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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Schools:
Continued from Page A1
Dirk Dirksen is retiring
as Morrow County School
District superintendent after
11 years. During that span, he
said, the district increased its
graduation rate.
“We’ve always stayed
above the state average, but
we are well above it now,” he
said.
The Oregon Department
of Education reports gradu-
ation rates statewide hover
above 80%.
Dirksen said Morrow
County schools are looking
pretty good by comparison.
He said 157 of 163 students in
the 2022 cohort group were
set to graduate on time, giving
the district a graduation rate
above 96%.
But this is an estimate, he
added. No graduation rate is
official until the ODE says so.
According to Dirksen, Irri-
gon High had 47 graduates.
Heppner High had 32, River-
side, 71 and Morrow Educa-
tion, seven. The class also
earned around $2.5 million
in scholarships.
“You really have to
congratulate the students
themselves for their dedi-
cation, their parents, teach-
ers, administrators, all the
people working hard to make
sure (students) were able to
get across the stage with a
diploma,” Dirksen said.
Plans beyond high
school
Pendleton School District
Superintendent Chris Fritsch
reported 197 students took
part in the high school’s grad-
uation survey of where gradu-
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Echo senior Kolby Spurlock passes the “flame of education” to Logan Hansen as part of a
graduation ceremony June 3, 2022. Echo High School graduated 15 students in year.
School District superinten-
dent, praised the graduates.
“I am sincerely happy for
the Class of 2022,” she said.
“They completed high school
during one of the most inter-
esting and unique times in our
country, and I think each of
these students is stronger for
it.”
All of the school’s seniors
made it through this year, she
said.
Burton boasted, 52% of
this class has college plans
for the fall. Nine students
are going into the workforce,
two students are entering the
military and four students
are going to trade school, she
said.
Echo High School grad-
uated 15 seniors, admin-
istrative secretary Mandy
Palmateer, said, and each has
plans to further their educa-
tion with college. She said this
is pretty common for Echo.
“We’re obviously super
proud of them,” she said.
“It’s a big accomplishment.
They’ve made it this far, and
we’re excited to see where
they go in the future.”
Normalcy returning
“I AM SINCERELY HAPPY FOR THE CLASS OF 2022.
THEY COMPLETED HIGH SCHOOL DURING ONE
OF THE MOST INTERESTING AND UNIQUE TIMES
IN OUR COUNTRY, AND I THINK EACH OF THESE
STUDENTS IS STRONGER FOR IT.”
— Beth Burton, Stanfield School District superintendent
ates are headed next:
• 3.5% are enlisting in the
military.
• 5% heading to trade or
career school.
• 11% are undecided.
• 18% are entering the
workforce.
• 63% are bound for college
or university, with 68 students
going to a four-year school (31
staying in state, 37 going out
of state).
PHS Class of 2022 also
earned more than $4.4
million in scholarships, and
Summit:
Continued from Page A1
Rather than any debate in
Hermiston, the trio shared
the spotlight on the second
day of the conference and
answered the same set of
questions.
Why run for
governor?
Kotek, speaker of the
Oregon House of Repre-
sentatives, 2013-22, spoke
of her parents. They were
immigrants, she said, who
taught her values including
thriftiness and giving back
to society. The Democratic
nominee also mentioned her
sports background.
“I want to be your team
captain,” she said.
Having moved to the state
in 1987, she fell in love with
it right away, she said. She
liked the look of Oregon, and
loved the potential.
In the years that followed,
she worked for the Oregon
Food Bank. As such, she
said, she traveled to all parts
of the state and got to know
people throughout.
Since then, working in
the state House, she made an
effort to identify and solve
problems, she said.
Drazan, Oregon repre-
sentative from Canby 2019-
22, said she is motivated by
values taught to her in her
childhood.
The Republican nomi-
nee said she was taught in
her youth that politicians
mattered, but they frequently
made things worse for their
constituents.
When she started work-
ing in government, she said,
she wanted to shoulder the
burdens of other people. As
she did so, she discovered
that serving under Demo-
cratic rule was not altogether
great.
“Single-party control has
led to us being on the wrong
course,” she said.
She added she wants to
restore balance, thereby
returning government to the
people.
“We have the opportunity
for change,” she said.
She said her opponents
had their chance, but they are
the ones who are responsible
for getting us “to where we
are” now.
Johnson served as an
Oregon state senator 2005-
21 and a state representa-
tive before that and ran as a
Democrat. But her bid to take
Mahonia Hall has her running
an unaffiliated campaign.
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
Oregon Democrat gubernatorial candidate Tina Kotek talks
Friday, June 17, 2022, during the Eastern Oregon Economic
Summit in Hermiston.
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
Betsy Johnson, unaffiliated Oregon gubernatorial candi-
date, speaks to a crowd Friday, June 17, 2022, at the Eastern
Oregon Economic Summit in Hermiston.
“I’m going to be on your
side,” she said.
Johnson said Gov. Kate
Brown has taken the state
in the wrong direction, and
voting for Kotek would be
“validating the status quo,”
and that would make things
even worse.
Johnson spoke of often
finding herself at odds
with her party and annoy-
ing her colleagues. She said
Oregon needs more moder-
ates in government, and she
wants to be governor so she
can employ ideas from both
major parties.
What is there to do about
the urban/rural divide?
Addressing the separation
between people in bigger and
smaller cities, Kotek praised
the Economic Summit as “a
good start” to solving the
problem.
“It’s nice to be back here
in Hermiston,” she said.
Kotek said having legis-
lators and politicians visit
places away from their
homes helps them build
relationships. And through
those relationships, they can
push forward on topics such
as wildfire recovery, which
needs popular support.
Drazan said this elec-
tion is giving rural people
an opportunity for respect.
In decisions, as with ones
relating to COVID-19, state
government has given the
state a Portland-centric
approach.
Johnson spoke of her own
history with flying fellow
legislators to Eastern Oregon.
“This is not a stop,” she
said.
By bringing people in
government to this side of
the state, she said, she is able
to educate them on the values
and needs here.
What about the
pandemic and
health care?
The candidates weighed
in on the state’s response to
the coronavirus pandemic
and what they might have
done differently as governor.
Kotek said there are some
important lessons to draw
from the pandemic. There
were good things about
the response, she said. For
instance, the state deserves
80 students graduated with
college credits.
Stanf ield Secondar y
School graduated 38 students
— 37 seniors and one junior,
who managed to graduate
early.
Beth Burton, Stanfield
credit for organizing personal
protective equipment. There
were, however, problems,
including communication,
she said. Joblessness and
people having trouble with
rents were other trouble spots
relating to the coronavirus.
Drazan said Oregon,
under Brown, led with fear.
According to Drazan, the
governor told people that bad
things would happen if they
didn’t do what they were told.
“I will lead with facts and
not fear,” she said.
She stated there will be
wildfires and droughts and
problems, but as governor
she would empower local
communities to do what is
right for them and to solve
their problems.
Johnson said Oregon
should have trusted its
people. The mandates were,
she said, “heavy handed.”
Often, she said, decisions
were made without the
consult of affected people.
Also, the system needs an
“overhaul,” she said, so we
can know who is responsible
for decisions and hold them
accountable.
All three candidates
praised Oregon’s system of
coordinated care organiza-
tions, though Drazan stated
the system needed protection
from becoming “a shadow of
its former self.”
How will you know
you were a good
governor?
For the final question,
each candidate addressed
what she wanted to accom-
plish and how they would
know they were successful
after being governor.
Kotek said she would like
to be remembered for bring-
ing people together to solve
problems, including the need
for more housing.
Drazan stated she wants to
be the person who cleans up
the “mess” Oregon is in now
and keep people from want-
ing to leave.
Johnson said she wants to
be the person who makes the
state less divided and more
unified.
Also, she said, she wants
to solve homelessness
throughout the state, reduce
crime and make Oregon
more affordable. She spoke of
the state’s need to address its
housing supply problem and
restore respect to business.
Johnson added she wants
to restore the “maverick
spirit” of Oregon. Bold, new
leadership that seeks the
middle of our political divide,
she said, is key to rejuvenat-
ing the “Oregon mojo.”
Umatilla High School
graduated 90 of its 92 seniors
on time, according to Heidi
Sipe, Umatilla School District
superintendent.
“We’d be happier if it was
92,” she said. “I think that it’s
really important to recognize
that the kids who graduated
worked really hard to walk
across that stage.”
Two students worked
especially hard, she said,
as they earned their associ-
ate of arts transfer degrees.
Marisol Santa Cruz and
Thalia Trujillo are planning
to continue their education
Beast:
Continued from Page A1
First up at West Point
is cadet basic training.
Paullus plans to “slay the
beast,” the euphemism for
completing basic train-
ing. The six-week train-
ing ends with a 12-mile
ruck march carrying 35-40
pounds of gear. Paullus
went on practice marches
on some back roads carry-
ing her dad’s ruck pack.
Her father, Joshua Paullus,
is a 30-year veteran of the
Army National Guard.
It was her dad who
got the idea of West Point
lodged in Tatum’s brain
back in elementary school.
When her older sister
was considering differ-
ent colleges, Joshua half
jokingly pushed West Point.
Her sister rejected the idea
but Tatum tucked it into the
back of her brain to reexam-
ine later. In middle school,
however, she rejected the
idea of the military entirely.
“I went through a phase
where I did not like the
military at all because
it took my dad away so
much,” she recalled. “Dad
deployed for almost two
years right after I was born.
He deployed again when I
was in kindergarten and
came back when I was in
first grade.”
Then there was the
summer and weekend
trainings. Tatum blamed
the Army.
When she connected
with a group called Oregon
Military Teen Panel, things
changed. The group helps
military youth connect, go
through resiliency train-
ing and “talk about some
of the stuff we go through
at home.” Tatum now is an
officer with the national
Teen Panel.
While researching possi-
ble colleges as a freshman,
Paullus revisited the idea of
West Point and mentioned
it to Debbie McBee, a
mentor with Pendleton
High School’s ASPIRE —
Access to Student Assis-
tance Programs In Reach
of Everyone — program.
McBee’s son, Br ian,
attended West Point and
McBee served as a local
admissions person for West
Point for 10 years.
McBee didn’t immedi-
in the fall at Portland State
University.
And a number of graduates
earned their biliteracy seal
from the Oregon Department
of Education. The biliteracy
seal indicates that a student
has completed rigorous
language testing in English
and Spanish.
Dee Lorence, UHS coun-
selor, shared yet another
accomplishment of this class.
She said scholarship and grant
totals “should be between
$767,000-$800,000 over two
to four years.”
Pilot Rock High School for
the last two years held its grad-
uation on the football field to
meet pandemic restrictions.
School District Administra-
tor Annie Tester is retiring
and said it felt good to have the
graduation ceremony return
to the school gym. Better still,
she said, was having all 22
seniors graduate June 4 and
one junior finish early.
“I have never, ever seen
that happen,” she said.
Pilot Rock enacted an
alternative education program
to help a few students. Online
studies and an attentive
teacher assisted them to the
finish line, Tester said.
“We put in some safe-
guards,” she said, and those
safeguards made it possible
for everyone to graduate on
time.
Nine of the students
combined received schol-
arship offers exceeding
$300,000, she said, with
more still to come. And one
student alone received options
on $181,000. The funding is
available depending on the
student’s choice of school.
— East Oregonian news
editor Phil Wright contrib-
uted to this article.
ately encourage Paullus.
“She immediately went
into all of the hard things,”
Paullus said. “She asked,
‘Are you ready for that?’”
McBee remembered
wanting Paullus to consider
all the implications before
diving in.
“Some young people
go after a dream because it
has allure,” she said. “West
Point and other military
academies are not like any
other college experience.
It’s a whole other level.
You can’t leave campus for
a pizza and beer. You give
up a lot.”
Pau llu s conv i nced
McBee she was serious.
“She’s been locked on
this the whole way along,”
McBee said. “I can see her
being one of the top people
in her class.”
McB e e d id s o m e
research in the West Point
archives and said she
believes Paullus is the first
woman from Umatilla
County accepted to West
Point since it started admit-
ting women in 1976.
Early on in the process,
Paullus sought out West
Point graduates and current
cadets, especially female,
to get a full measure of their
experience.
Paullus, whose hair falls
down to her lower back,
won’t have to get the mili-
tary buzz cut required of
male cadets. She said she
feels for some of the guys
who she has gotten to know
over social media.
Paullus said she expects
to miss her little brother,
Cash, her dad and her mom,
Heidi, who the Pendleton
School District recently
selected as the new assis-
tant principal at Washing-
ton Elementary School.
As Paullus looks ahead,
her plans resemble one of
those choose-your-own-
ending adventure books.
She said she plans to double
major in international
affairs and Arabic with an
internship with the CIA or
FBI. After that, she identi-
fied three possible routes.
If she chooses a military
career, she hopes to do
psychological operations, a
part of special operations.
If she doesn’t choose a mili-
tary career, she’d like to
work for the CIA or maybe
become a politician.
Before all that, she must
slay the beast.
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