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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 2008)
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon November 6, 2 0 0 8 Page 3 Geoteam learns advanced mapping B y L eslie M itts “Kids should join now if they’re going to join,” Morford said. “Pretty soon it’ll be too hard to catch up.” The group will continue in definitely—at least through the end o f the school year, Morford said. The club meets on Tues day from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Education Building. For more information, call OSU Extension at 553-3238. Spilyay Tymoo Chezeray Starr tried to find his way across a field while blind folded—-and it was all part of an after-school activity designed to teach local youth mapping skills. Starr, a sixth grader, is one o f several members of the 4- H Geoteam. The blindfold exercise was designed to show how easy it is to lose your sense of direction because each person has one dominant foot or another when they are walking. That’s only a portion of what Starr and his fellow Geoteam members have learned during their weekly club meetings. A ccording to Shawn M orford o f OSU E xtension Services, the 4-H Geoteam was formed after a grant awarded their program a chance to pur chase multiple licenses for geo graphic inform ation systems (GlS) software. The skills students are learn ing are not skills that are avail able in any classes at their schools, M orford said. She added, “They’re learning skills that kids from Madras don’t have the opportunity to learn.” The 4-H Geoteam consists o f m iddle school and high school students in Warm Springs. “GIS software is not being taught in the schools, currently,” Morford said. She added, “It’s a very valuable job skill.” In fact, it is a job skill that is used locally in departments like N atural Resources and Plan ning. Trisha Stradley works in the GIS office at Natural Resources and o ften helps the students in volved with the 4-H Geoteam. She’s shown them different types of maps used in the Natu ral Resources Department and will soon be giving students a tour of the office and showing them the software that they use. Stradley said the students will definitely benefit from the club because they don’t have the opportunity to learn these skills in school. When she was in high school, Stradley said, she Native American Heritage A rt Market at museum T he M useum at Warm Springs will host a Native American Heritage Art Mar ket on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 29 and 30. The event will feature lo cal artisans with Columbia River Plateau Traditional Art and Native American Con temporary Arts and Crafts for sale. The market will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the museum. There is no admis sion charge for the market and guests who sign up at the registration desk will be eli gible for door prizes. Drawings for door prizes will be held on Saturday ev ery half hour. For more in formation call 553-3331. Sponsored by Abby’s Legendary Pizza Young Achiever Leslie Mitts/Spilyay Chezeray Starr is a member of the 4-H Geoteam. learned similar skills through three years of forestry classes— but local students don’t have that opportunity. “I think having this program kind of fills that void,” Stradley said. The group also has help from volunteer Don Bilyeu, a retired forest service employee. While the group started off learning basics like features of maps, Morford said, eventually they will learn how to make maps electronically. Recently the students trav elled to Pordand for a field trip. Nine students made the trip and participated in a scavenger hunt. The students stayed in a hos tel that hosted the scavenger hunt, Morford said, j, “They gave kids maps o f the city and said, ‘We’re at this hos tel and we want you to get over to the other hostel on the other side of town using the transit system’,” Morford explained. “We had to take a streetcar, the max, and a bus and kids were in charge of plotting out their route, finding the right bus and the right time,” Morford said. “It was a race to see who could get there first.” Along the way the students had to complete other tasks— like finding out how much it costs to get into Chinese gardens. The experience taught stu dents about map reading as well as self-confidence, indepen dence and teamwork. Also, Morford said. “It was a blast. It was really fun.” Later the students will com plete a com m unity mapping p ro jec t— som ething th at M orford said will help them develop other skills like commu nication. “The kids will decide what kind o f features they want in the map,” Morford explained. “We also hope that the exercise that they’re going to do in map ping the community will give them a better connection to the com niunity.” When it is finished the map will be displayed publicly. In the end, M orford said, “They’re going to take away a very valuable job skill— highly valued and highly sought after job skill.” “It will çu t them ahead of their classmates in a pretty valu able skill,” Morford said. “And it should be fun.” For any interested students, there is still time to join. IRA’S SALES & SERVICE, INC. Jake Frank, an 8 -year- old third grade student at Warm Springs Flementary School, is currently excel ling in math. “H e’s an outstanding mathematician, ” according to Principal Dawn Smith. Jake said that math is his second favorite subject in school. His favorite is physical education—espe cially outdoor sports. A ccording to Jake, “When we play outside in soccer it builds up most of our bones. ” When it comes to math, Jake said he has already learned about multiplication and division and is now start ing to learn about fa ct fam i lies. While he’s good at math now, Jake said that he might not have been as ex cellent at math before. “Probably not as much as now, ” he added. Jake lives with his grandmother, Anna Clements, and has one brother and three sisters. One o f his favorite hob bies after school is playing with his two dogs, Jake said. When he grows up, Jake plans to become a teacher. “It’s ju st really fun—like a fun job, ” Jake explained. 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