A10
Education
wallowa.com
November 1, 2017
Wallowa County Chieftain
Imnaha Bridge School sees population boom
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Imnaha School District
teacher Shari Warnock is
stretching her abilities this
year, preparing eight lessons
plans for eight students —
each at different grade levels.
It’s challenging, but but she
says it’s fun.
“I almost canceled free kin-
dergarten when I learned I was
going to be having eight stu-
dents,” said Warnock.
She didn’t cancel kinder-
garten, but preparing her day
requires some help.
There is a lot of help, War-
nock said. Not only does
librarian Keith Kirtz help out,
but Joseph Charter School’s
Spanish and Jr. High Science
teacher, Tim Bombaci, starts
his day with the Imnaha stu-
dents before driving the 30
miles on to Joseph.
And there are the volun-
teers. “The Grandmas” include
Randie Guthrie and Bar-
bara Warnock who come any
time they’re needed and bring
homemade cookies.
It’s been 11 years since
Warnock has had this many
students. Back in 2006 she had
nearly a dozen students.
If you go back 20 years,
you’d be in the heyday of
Imnaha school. Back then two
teachers worked full-time in
two rooms with 22 students.
Teachers who traveled to
Imnaha stayed in the attached
studio apartment teacherage.
For most of its history,
Imnaha was the school for
ranch kids. Ranches in the
remote valley were owned by
the folks who worked them,
and families were raised there.
Some still are, but more com-
monly, ranches are being pur-
chased by absentee owners
who hire a farm manager and
some ranch hands. There are
fewer families and thus fewer
kids in the school.
It’s not surprising that kids
raised on ranches with plenty
of open space are accustomed
to a lot of independent time
and solitude. This year’s crop
of Imnaha school kids said
they like their school small.
They visit Joseph several times
a week so they can meet class-
mates, but they find classes in
Joseph “noisy.”
“There are more friends
to play with,” allows Adam
Lopez, 11. “So, there’s good
and bad.”
Lopez is the Imnaha school
veteran, having been a stu-
dent there through both thick
and thin –– thin being a year
when there were two students
in the school. Now, his brother
Aaron has joined him along
with the other students.
Waylon Witherrite, 7, has
earned the award for being the
continuation of the longest line
of students from a local fam-
ily that remains in the val-
ley and stretches back gener-
ations. Warnock is pretty sure
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
The great big student body at Imnaha School District: Eight students in eight different grades. Front row, from left, are Gabe
Neveau, 7, Bella Cervantes, 7, Waylon Witherrite, 7, Avery Morgan, 5, and Aaron Lopez, 6. Back row, from left, Librarian Keith
Kirtz, Adam Loez, 11, and teacher Shari Warnock. Not pictured: Shawndra Kirkpatrick, 11, and Jesse Kirkpatrick, 8.
Waylon’s great granddad went
to Imnaha back in the day.
There are plenty of joys
to teaching at a small school,
which offset the challenges
of the range of grade levels a
teacher must master, Warnock
said.
Joseph senior finds
rewards in helping
refugees survive
By Kana Oliver
W AL L OW A COUN TY
Alcoholics Anonymous
Meetings
E N TE R P R ISE
JOSE P H
MONDAYS
MONDAYS
TUESDAYS
7 p.m. Enterprise Group
113.5 E Main St.
6 p.m. Grace and Dignity
(Womans Mtg) Joseph
United Methodist Church
St., Corner
Church 3rd
301 S. Lake St,
Basement
&
Lake, Side Stairs on
Lake St.
TUESDAYS
12-1 p.m. Enterprise Group
113.5 E Main St.
7-8 p.m. Enterprise Group
(Big Bk Study)
113.5 E Main St.
WEDNESDAYS
7 p.m. Enterprise Group
113.5 E Main St.
THURSDAYS
12-1 p.m. Enterprise Group
113.5 E Main St.
7 p.m. All Saints
(Mens Mtg)
113.5 E Main St.
WEDNESDAYS
Kana Oliver/Special to the Chieftain
Will Caldwell was the chief chef for a dinner on Oct. 15, which
was held to raise funds for a trip to aid refugees in Ghana
and Kenya.
YOU CAN HELP
People who want more information or are willing to
contribute to Will Caldwell’s Senior Project Fund may
send checks to Joseph Charter School, attention:
Will Caldwell Senior Project Fund, P.O. Box 787,
Joseph, OR 97846; call 208-874-2359 or email
mountaindh451@gmail.com.
for the film is to expose the reality of life in the camp for Somali
refugees, and share that with American citizens. The current
political narrative has focused on and furthered negative stereo-
types pertaining to refugees, and I believe there is no better way
to share the truth than through videography. If a picture is worth a
thousand words, how many is a documentary worth?”
Caldwell’s goals are ambitious.
“Senior projects have become vital in giving Joseph Charter
students unique experiences and involving them in the commu-
nity,” said Liza Strickland, senior project adviser. “They prepare
them for the real world by developing their professional attitudes
and skills.”
Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College Small Business
Development Center has
three classes planned in the
coming weeks.
• “Accounting Is The
Language of Business” will
be 6:30-8 p.m. Nov. 7 and 9,
and Nov. 14 and 16 at Wal-
lowa Resources, 401 NE 1st
St., Enterprise
The course is designed
to help improve “language”
skills by learning or refresh-
ing fundamental accounting
concepts.
What are the major types
of accounts? How do I cre-
ate and read an income state-
ment or balance sheet? What
is the difference between
cash flow and profitability?
• “Marketing Basics,”
6:30-8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov.
28, at Wallowa Resources.
How do you attract cus-
7 p.m. Wallowa Assembly
of God Church
205 S Alder St.
tomers to your door? The
class introduces fundamen-
tal concepts, gets students
thinking about Unique Value
Propositions and target mar-
kets as well as explore strat-
egies and tools and devel-
oping a marketing plan to
increase customer base and
sales.
• “Public Relations and
Advertising,” 9 a.m. to 12:30
p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, at
Wallowa Resources.
How do you attract com-
munity attention for your
business? The workshop will
run through the difference
between public relations and
advertising, when each is
appropriate and provide tools
to excel at both. Leave with a
press release ready to send to
the media.
More information and
registration: bluecc.edu.
Healthy Futures dinner
and auction planned
Wallowa Valley Health
Care Foundation will spon-
sor the 22nd Annual Healthy
Futures Dinner Auction Sat-
urday, Nov. 11, at the Clo-
verleaf Hall in Enterprise.
Funding will go towards the
$350,000 purchase of the
new Genius 3D Mammogra-
phy System.
“When breast cancer is
caught early enough, the
survival rate is nearly 100
percent,” said the hospi-
tal’s imaging director Josie
Conrad.
The Healthy Futures
Dinner Auction was started
in 1995 to raise funds for
new hospital beds. That first
year, more than $19,000 was
12 p.m. Rambling
Grace and Roses
Dignity
(Womans Mtg)
301 S. Lake St., Church
Basement
W AL L OW A
SUNDAYS
said. “When you get down to
the end of the month or quarter
and see how far they’ve come
— that’s a joy.”
Boost your
business success
with classes at
Blue Mountain
Special to the Wallowa County Chieftain
Joseph Charter School has been putting its seniors to the test
with large-scale projects for more than 10 years. The projects
demand students to involve their career interests while benefiting
the community and personal growth.
While most projects are aimed at Wallowa County, Will Cald-
well has his sights set on a relief trip to Ghana and Kenya.
Caldwell, 17, hosted a “Dinner at the Lake” fundraiser Oct.
15. The menu of steak, pasta, potatoes and dessert was prepared
by the high school senior with assistance from his friends. Live
music was provided by Brian Oliver, Caleb Samples, Laura
Skovlin and John Reins to help round out the night.
The ended up netting significant proceeds for his upcoming
trip and served 28 guests.
This will be Caldwell’s third relief trip. Throughout high
school, he has been working with refugees abroad and fundrais-
ing for them in the United States. Caldwell enjoys the work.
“Saving a life is the most rewarding and humbling experience
in the world,” he said.
He believes working with refugees has changed his life for-
ever and now has a duty to help those who are less privileged.
Caldwell is drawn to relief trips as they are rewarding to both
himself and the community he visits.
He hopes to major in premed at Johns Hopkins University, Har-
vard or University of California Berkeley. He’s also interested in
journalism and videography.
Caldwell will leave Dec. 15, traveling with Solutions for Life
Initiative Ghana and the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees. He will stay in Ghana for three weeks. He plans to help
out wherever he is needed but will focus on working in a clinic.
Immediately after, he will stay in Kenya at Dadaab Refugee
Camp for a week and work on a documentary about the lost gen-
eration of the Somali refugees.
“The living conditions are so dire that the United Nations clas-
sifies Dadaab as a danger level four, making it one of the most
dangerous camps in the world,” Caldwell said. “My main goal
“When you teach years in
a row, you’ve taught students
almost since they were born
— that brings a lot of joy,” she
raised for the new Resident
House to house the OHSU
residents in the newly estab-
lished Rural Rotation pro-
gram, founded by now-re-
tired doctors Lowell Euhus
and Scott Siebe.
Last year, the Auction
raised a record $93,000,
thanks to three $10,000 dona-
tions, in addition to what was
raised at the live and silent
auctions.
Tickets are $60 each and
include an elegant catered
dinner provided by Back-
yard Gardens. Tickets and
more information can be
obtained by stopping by the
Foundation office or calling
541-426-1913.
ELECTRICAL
& PLUMBING SUPPLIES
ELECTRICAL & WATER SYSTEM
CONTRACTOR
PUMPS • IRRIGATION
HARDWARE• APPLIANCE PARTS
FRIDAYS
7 p.m. Enterprise Group
113.5 E Main St.
SATURDAYS
7 p.m. Enterprise Group
113.5 E Main St.
208 S. RIVER ST. • ENTERPRISE, OR
www.jbbane.com • 541-426-3344