FROM PAGE ONE
Wallowa.com
Wecks:
Continued from Page A1
aspects and elements of that
pageant,” she said. “They are
judged on personality, they
are judged on appearance,
they are judged on public
speaking abilities, their abil-
ity to answer impromptu
questions, they go through
an interview, (and) they take
a written test.
“Everything kind of
aligns with mainstream
pageantry.”
The exception to that is
the horse skills contestants
were to display, and knowl-
edge of the lifestyle beyond
just taking part in a rodeo.
Carr said they had to ride a
pattern given by the judges,
ride a pattern they create
their own, and show their
understanding of industries
such as the agriculture and
beef industries.
“You can’t represent
something you don’t know,
so they really have to be able
to talk to the public knowl-
edgeably,” Carr said. “You
have to be well-rounded.”
Wecks said the ample
experience she has in win-
ning previous Miss Rodeo
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Destiny Wecks and her horse Opie. Wecks won the title of 2022
Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon at the Junior Miss and Miss Teen Rodeo
Oregon Pageant on June 26, 2021, at the Tillamook County Rodeo.
honors and being a CJD
queen were helpful, but
added she still was prepar-
ing late the night before the
pageant, preparing for her
speech and written test.
“I was up until midnight
or 1 a.m. studying,” she said.
Mentors:
Success stories
Continued from Page A1
students participate each
year. Some are repeats, par-
ticipating in their junior
and senior years. The nine-
month program begins in
September, when teens are
challenged with the task of
coming up with the idea for
a business and proceeding
with starting their business.
“The long-term goal (of
the program) is for our teens
to come back with skills
needed in our community,”
said Green.
Out-migration,
where
young people leave the com-
munity they grew up in for
opportunities in education
or work, and do not return
to their communities of ori-
gin, is a huge issue all across
the country, she said. Com-
panies here are desperate for
certain skills if they are to
thrive and survive, she said.
Green speaks passion-
ately about the student
entrepreneurs she has men-
tored over the years — teen
entrepreneurs such as Leith,
who just graduated from
Joseph Charter School and
was given the award Most
Likely to Be An Entrepre-
neur for the second year in
a row. She was the fi rst to
launch her business, called
EZ 123 Kitchen. Leith had
a marketing plan and fi nan-
cial records showing how
she earned revenue total-
ing more than $1,300. Or
incoming Enterprise senior
Alona Yost, who started an
animal care business called
Alona’s Perfect Pet Sitting
taking care of dogs, cats and
other animals. When the
business took off , she began
including child care and was
in high demand from busy
parents who needed quality
childcare.
Lessons learned
Starting and running
one’s own business is not
easy, and it comes with
unseen and unexpected pit-
falls. Leith, for example, had
to learn how to manage the
sometimes-confl icting pres-
sures of schoolwork, outside
work, social obligations,
extracurricular
activities
and family responsibilities.
She learned the importance
of managing one’s times
through lessons on goal-set-
ting and prioritizing and was
able to manage her time in
order to run her business
Wecks is active in FFA,
Natural Helpers, and the 4H
horse program. She trains
horses as well as riding her
own horses for drill, 4-H,
rodeo and pleasure. She rep-
resents Oregon in 2020-21
as High School Rodeo First
Attendant and the Chief
Joseph Days Honorary
Queen.
Wecks has been on a horse
just about her entire life,
and has royalty in her blood
with her mother, Vixen Rad-
ford-Wecks, being a former
CJD queen. She credited her
mother with helping her get
started in many of the events
she now is part of.
“She helped me a lot,”
Wecks said. “It’s not just
to like horses, but you can
have jobs and other oppor-
tunities in horses. When I
started doing horse or FFA I
realized I could do rodeo as
well.”
While the date is not
fi nalized, Wecks’ coronation
will be sometime in early
2022.
“I hope I can travel all
over Oregon as well as sur-
rounding states, like Idaho
and Montana, to welcome
more people to our state and
tell them about rodeo,” she
said.
Stacy Green/Contributed Photo
Joseph Charter School student Bayden Menton won the award
for Top Producer in the Mentor Match Teen Entrepreneur
Program as his business, Old School Cutting Boards, earned
more than $6,000 in revenue.
and still fi nd time for other
things.
Katrina Haines, an Enter-
prise graduate who started
KH Custom Designs, an art
business making custom
stickers, learned the impor-
tance of marketing.
“I learned getting the
word out about your busi-
ness is key,” she said.
Another lesson the teens
had to learn was how to fail.
Aubrina Melville started
Laundry Lambs as a junior at
Enterprise High School. The
endeavor, making all-nat-
ural wool dryer balls, was
time-consuming and not as
profi table as she had hoped.
By her senior year she had
started 292 Lamb Co., sell-
ing high-quality ewes and
saw a tenfold increase in her
profi ts.
“It’s OK to fail. Failure is
often the best way to learn
how to move forward,” she
said.
The program features
speakers and trips tour-
ing businesses started by
entrepreneurs.
“Mentoring comes from a
variety of those who went to
college and entered the work
force to young, crazy entre-
preneurs who were million-
aires by their 25th birthdays
because they took enormous
risks,” Green said.
She mentioned a VIP trip
the group took to Microsoft
where they saw innovations
few have seen.
“We have seen things
only 300 people in the world
have seen,” she said.
The group also took a
trip to New York City and
met with Tyler Hays, owner
of M. Crow in Lostine
and entrepreneur furniture
craftsman.
Green estimated that
approximately 25% of the
participants in the program
have returned to Wallowa
County, bringing their skills
with them, and 10% have
continued in pursuit of entre-
preneurship roles.
Green said the program
features businesspeople who
speak to the teens, many of
whom “are desperate for
anyone with an accounting
background,” she said.
Another project Green
mentioned, one started
during the fi rst year of the
program, was Blue Moun-
tain Boys Recycling. It was
a curbside pickup service
for household recycling.
Five boys started the busi-
ness, and when three grad-
uated after the fi rst year, the
two returning juniors, Mar-
cus Lynn and Erich Roepke,
ran the business their senior
year. Roepke continued the
business in college, renam-
ing it Intrepid Recycling
and focused on scrap metal
from farms and ranches.
Today, Erich makes his liv-
ing as a social media adven-
ture entrepreneur, traveling
around the world document-
ing environmental con-
cerns through social media.
Lynn started his career at the
local Bank of Eastern Ore-
gon branch, and is currently
the new accounts manager.
In his free time, he coaches
several youth sports teams.
Matt Perren, who created
the idea for Blue Mountain
Boys Recycling, returned to
the county after receiving
his accounting degree from
Eastern Oregon University.
He is currently the controller
at Wallowa Memorial Hos-
pital and received his MBA
in June.
Funding for the ini-
tial three years of the Men-
tor Match Teen Entrepre-
neur Program came from the
Oregon Community Foun-
dation. The program is now
funded and housed through
Building Healthy Families.
Asked if there was one
thing she would like peo-
ple to know about the pro-
gram, Green refl ected for a
moment and then said, “We
underestimate our teens and
how capable they are, and
we also underestimate how
many teens want to come
back and make this their
home. By showing them dif-
ferent options, many have
found a pathway back here
and we are benefi tting not
just from their professional
skills, but from their involve-
ment in the community.”
For more information
on the Mentor Match Teen
Entrepreneur
Program,
including when the next pro-
gram starts, contact Green at
541-398-2314.
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
A5
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Ron Meyer serves lunch on Monday, July 12, 2021, as the
senior lunch program put on by Community Connection of
Northeast Oregon returns to the Enterprise and Wallowa
senior centers. Next to Meyer, Belinda Kuntz begins
preparing another plate.
Lunches:
Continued from Page A1
program, which would
serve anywhere from 30
to 60 or 70 people at each
center
pre-COVID-19,
Guentert said, brings
back an important com-
ponent of life for many
in the age demographic
— socialization.
“Data has proven that
engaged seniors, socialized
seniors, tend to live longer,
live healthier, active lives
than seniors that do not
engage and socialize,” she
said. “The importance in
our county, where our pop-
ulation of those over the
age of 60 is over 30%, it’s
very, very important.”
Socializing was indeed
a key component missing
from the lives of seniors
who were at the center
Monday.
“Missed it like crazy,”
said Bev Connolly of
Enterprise,” but it was
what it was.”
“(There was) no place
to go,” said Murna Down-
ing of Enterprise. “It’s nice
to be out again among peo-
ple instead of eating alone.
We’re not eating alone at
home.”
Ruby Zollman, of
Joseph, said it was “lone-
some” being home as long
as many were during the
pandemic.
“You lost contact with
people,” she said. “I just
stayed at home all the time,
shut in.”
Of being able to be
back, Zollman added, “It
means a lot.”
While meals are served
at the senior center, they
are open to individuals of
any age.
“Very open, very inclu-
sive,” she said. “Non-se-
niors can come eat at the
center, they just have to pay
the fully allocated price of
$5.75 a meal.”
Seniors can give a dona-
tion of any price to eat, but
it is not required.
Lunch at the center is
not dependent on an indi-
vidual’s income, either,
Guentert said.
“And I think that some-
times is a misconcep-
tion that it’s a low-income
program,” she said. “It’s
not. It’s about keeping
seniors healthy, active and
engaged.”
Activities are also
returning to the center.
“We partner with Home
Health as far as toenail foot
clinics, pilates, zumba, all
those activities can now be
resumed,” Guentert said.
The centers will serve
lunches on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays,
beginning at 11:30 in
Enterprise and at noon in
Wallowa.
Masks will not be
required, but they will
be available for anybody
wanting one. There also
will be extra sanitization
measures used by staff ,
and added availability of
sanitizer.
“We want to protect
them,” Guentert said of the
seniors.
She added the center is
looking for volunteers, and
anybody interested can call
541-426-3840.
As for what Guent-
ert anticipates as lunches
return?
“I’m torn. And the rea-
son I’m torn is people have
been so excited and been
asking for more than a year
‘When are you reopen-
ing?’” she said. “Part of
that lends me to believe we
are going to be inundated.
The other part of me says
people are still worried
about COVID exposure.
I’m not sure which way it’s
going to swing, but I sure
hope it’s big participation.”
On the fi rst day back,
there were around 20-25
individuals who joined for
lunch.
“There isn’t very many
here today,” Downing
said. “It’ll take a while (for
them) to come back.”
Quiet Enterprise City
Council meeting held
Chieftain staff
ENTERPRISE — Lit-
tle action was taken during
a low-key Enterprise City
Council meeting Monday,
July 12.
The council did vote on
— and unanimously passed
— a handful of actions,
including a resolution to
close an existing City of
Enterprise Fire Account
through Bank of Eastern
Oregon. The remaining
balance of $3,218.66 will
be transferred to the gen-
eral fund.
The council approved
an event permit for Ron
Pickens for a grand open-
ing for the upgraded Enter-
prise Skate Park, but did
not allow for a street clo-
sure. The council also
approved an event permit
requested by Candy Bunn
for the annual Main Street
Show and Shine.
And the council voted
to begin the process of
vacating both Tejaka Lane
and Highland Drive on the
south end of Enterprise.
Discussions regarding
use of a city vehicle at the
Enterprise Airport contin-
ued, but will be brought
before the council again in
August. It’s recommended
that a city vehicle be
removed from the airport
agreement and that the use
of the vehicle be addressed
in the future.
The next city council
meeting is Aug. 9. There
is a public input meeting
on vacation rentals tonight,
Wednesday, July 14, at
6 p.m. and a dedication
ceremony for the city coun-
cil room currently sched-
uled for July 30 at 3 p.m.
Join the Wallowa County Chieftain in Celebrating
75 years of Award-Winning Rodeo!
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