Cottage Grove sentinel., March 15, 2017, Page 6A, Image 6

6A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL MARCH 15, 2017
Cottage Grove holds half marathon
Cottage Grove hosted a half marathon on Saturday, March 11 and
just before 11 a.m., the fi rst runner broke through the tape with a
time of 1:12:10.
Orin Schumacher of Eugene took home fi rst place in the men's
division as well as the overall marathon. Schumacher said he ran
the race as part of his training for the Boston Marathon later this
year and plans to run the Eugene Marathon as well.
Second place went to Justin James-Long, also of Eugene.
"I ran this race last year and came in fi fth. I never thought I would
get the time I did," James-Long said. Running is new for him, with
several races under his belt including a handful of 50ks, the fi rst of
which he won. James-Long celebrated 15 months sober just days
before Saturday's marathon.
"I'm also nursing an injured tendon but it didn't bother me for this
race at all," he said.
More than 200 individuals signed up to run the race on Saturday
but by race time, the sunny skies of Friday had vanished, replaced
with rain and wind.
Andrea Oncken braved the weather to complete the race, "for
fun," she said. Currently living in Idaho, Oncken said she was in
Corvallis teaching and was looking for something to do. "I was just
looking for a race," she said. Oncken, like Schumaker and James-
Long, also qualifi ed for the Boston Marathon.
Runners began their day with a bus ride to Dorena School before
they started out on the route which brought them to the fi nish line
on the Row River Trail in Trailhead Park.
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Local service club members handed out medals to runners who crossed the fi nish line on the Row River Trail on Saturday, March 11. More than 200 indi-
viduals signed up to take part in the race with runners coming from as far away as California and Idaho.
SLSD approves Thai student exchange
541-517-7362
Pilot program would lead to longterm exchange
Paul Henrichs ~ Independent Agent
By Caitlyn May
The South Lane School District Board
cmay@cgsentinel.com
approved a pilot program for two Thai ex-
change students during its Monday, March
6 meeting.
The U.S.-Thai Distance Learning Organization (DLO) ap-
proached the board with the request, noting that the idea behind the
project was to introduce the students to American culture. While
host families had not been located as of March 6, the students were
scheduled to stay in the U.S. on varying schedules for up to two
months.
During the meeting, the board inquired as to the housing situation
for the students, with organizers noting that families with students
currently attending SLSD schools would be ideal. Cottage Grove
High School Principal Iton Udosenata agreed, saying that, while he
thought fi nding host families would be diffi cult, the school had no
concerns about creating space for the exchange students.
According to information given to board members, the U.S.-Thai
Distance Learning Organization is a nonprofi t organization based in
Eugene, which was established in 2005. Its purpose is to facilitate
educational projects between the two countries while it works in
coordination with foundations under royal patronage in Thailand
including the Rajaprachanogroh Foundation.
“The DLO works as a bridge to help promote students and teach-
ers exchange and other educational matter between Thailand and
the United States. We are helping students who live in rural area
towns receive a better education,” the material read. It went on to
say, “Starting in 1995, through the Distance Learning Foundation,
his majesty the king provided to schools that requested it, all the
equipment they would need such as televisions, satellite receivers,
etc.”
In 2005, the organization worked with the University of Oregon
to create videoconferencing between the university and the foun-
dation for science and math classes and in 2006, the foundation ar-
ranged the donation of books from the royal palace to UO’s Knight
Library and public libraries in Eugene and Springfi eld.
“We would like to promote international cultural exchange to
more students that would like to gain their international experi-
ence,” material stated. “We would like to promote both inbound and
outbound so that it will be a benefi t to both countries.”
The pilot program, according to organizers, would serve as a trial
run for a long-term exchange program.
It was approved unanimously by the board.
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