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.
The Young Achiever will receive a free pizza from
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