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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2018)
10B COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL JANUARY 24, 2017 Tara Child, Leading Lion Resurgence The Cottage Grove Lions girls varsity bas- ketball team has found a dominating force in junior guard Tara Child. Throughout the season so far, Child has proven she is one of the quickest and most electrifying Zach Anlauf The Lion's Roar point guards the program has had in a long time. “Tara’s strongest attribute as a player is her work ethic. She is constantly working hard to get better and improve and be more disciplined. I think it has already shown from the beginning of the season to where we are now,” said assistant coach Alyssa Eggen. As a fi ve-foot tall guard, she is typically the smallest girl on the fl oor, but arguably the fastest player and best ball handler out there. What she doesn’t have in height she makes up for with heart. “Breaking a girl’s ankles and having her land on her face is probably one of the best experiences I’ve had on the court,” Child said. While the main focus of the players and coaches is to win, typically, everybody loves a highlight play like a good fast break, a block, or in Child’s case, an ankle breaker. “Big plays like that really get ev- erybody excited and create momentum for our team. It gets the crowd pumped up and it brings confi dence to all of us,” said Keara Murphy, a senior on the team. On Friday, January 5th against Stayton, Child fi nished with 10 points which is her highest scoring game this season. “I have off games where I tend to revert back to some old habits but I try and push myself to be better every game and I’ve improved a lot because of that,” Child stated. Just as Eggen said, Child’s work ethic really pays off and she is aware of that herself. “My freshman year I swung all three teams, Dean of Students battling chronic absenteeism Book battles Georgia Hoffay The Lion's Roar Kobe Hunter/The Lion's Roar CGHS Battle of the Books team of Dayna Harris (from left) Isavel Edelblute, Kayley Crits, Lauren Myler, and Kaylee Yeo. Isabel Edelblute The Lion's Roar High School. These competi- tions are at the regional level, Last year Cottage Grove High and if the Cottage Grove High School welcomed a new club, School team wins they will Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB). This team of readers be going on to state compe- titions which are still to be is led by the fearless Sarah announced. Leonard. Leonard explained Leonard says the goal for this that OBOB is a statewide competition from grades 3-12. year is to make it to the state competitions. With luck and To participate students read some hard studying they a certain number of books, should be successful. traditionally 12, and then OBOB is a great way to keep compete in teams of four. young people interested in They are given 15 seconds to quality literature. If each answer questions about the books they’ve read. Competi- member of the team reads all 12 books they will have read tions range anywhere from 20 4,315 pages and 1,075,997 minutes to 30 minutes. words, quite a bit more Last year was Leonard’s fi rst reading than the average high year coordinating, “It was school student. mostly learning the ropes, Taylor Henry, a member of this year we’re more experi- the current OBOB team said, enced… The genre of books that the students read includes “I would defi nitely recom- mend OBOB to my peers, it’s everything, the coordinators a great experience and I can’t do a good job of including wait to start competitions.” every genre you can think If students wish to join this of,” she stated. She describes wonderful group of people the competitions as “intense, they should see Mrs. Leonard quiet, fun and full of antici- at the end of the 2018 school pation.” year so they can join next The fi rst competition is Sat- year’s team. urday, February 24 at Elmira Safe Continued from B9 of mental wellness of stu- dents. Besides these stressors, students face a wide variety of obstacles in their everyday lives and South Lane Mental Health programs help relieve them to an extent. Jessica also made the point that the founder decided to collaborate with CGHS because she had a passion for these services and wanted teenagers, as well as young children, to have access to their services or even just an adult they can trust. They offer one on one sessions, as well as group sessions, to offer even more support and connection to those around them who could be facing the same trials. The process of making ap- pointments is made easy and convenient. Referral forms are located in the offi ce for stu- dents to make appointments. If students don’t feel com- fortable doing this, they can talk to any staff member and they can refer them. However, drop-ins for crisis counseling are always accepted to ensure students get the help they need when in crisis. “These are really good options for those (students) who wouldn’t be able to access this help.. who couldn’t talk to people at home, get transportation to counseling or other reasons. There are a lot of reasons that it is nice to have this opportu- nity at school” says Jessica. There are three counselors that w-pork within the school during the regular week; Girin Guha, Davide Costley and Jessica Williams. Jessica stated, “I feel very fortunate to be here (CGHS) just because it has been a very smooth ride, and the staff is incredibly sup- portive..” The goal for South Lane Mental Health working within the school is to make students feel like they have the ability to seek help and the resources to improve their well-being. A healthy state of mind is key to a benefi cial education and having a well rounded school experience. Recognizing you need help is the fi rst step and getting it is the next, South Lane Mental Health makes this possible and helps ensure that students are successful. The room for South Lane Mental Health in CGHS is located next to the nurse’s offi ce. Contact information; South Lane Mental Health Information: 541-942-3910 1345 Birch Avenue, PO box 5, Cot- tage Grove, OR 97424 www.slmh.org Jessica Williams: 541- 767- 4088 Davide Costley: 541- 767- 4215 Girin Guha: 541-767-4272 Remaining Varsity CG Basketball Sched- ule JV2, JV, and varsity playing for all of them, and working my way up to playing full time varsity.” said Child. Driven by her passion for the game, she has been working since her freshman year to better herself and become a better player and team- mate to be successful when she takes the fl oor. “She’s a good teammate. She always is supportive of the entire team even when she has bad days of her own. No matter how good or bad we do, her effort never stops and that really comes in handy when others are down,” said fellow teammate Kate Bachelder. The team is currently is ranked fi rst in the Sky-Em league, and during preseason they were 4-7, but as Child stated the team pushes to improve every game and it has paid off so far as they are 3-0 in league play. Cottage Grove High School Dean of Students, Chris Wells is working to com- bat the statewide trend in rising chronic absenteeism rates. “I do a lot of stuff. Besides tracking the attendance and stuff like that, I meet with unexcused kids, I talk with parents about getting the kids to school more. I also do some online school stuff. I track activities, sports, clubs. I do a little bit of discipline, some supervision, a little bit of everything. Nothing is ever clean cut to one thing,” said Wells who has been on the job for six months. Wells got involved because he wants good attendance to be a good habit in the student body. “I think it’s easy to get behind, attendance wise, miss a couple of days here and there, and it really adds up to really impact education. I think helping kids improve their attendance is a good way to help them improve how they feel about themselves, how they feel about school, and stuff like that. It’s a good habit to have now, Good attendance is a good habit to have now, and for the future.” With him in charge now attendance may improve, but that’s not the only goal Wells is trying to achieve. “We’ve seen a little bit of an uptick, but I think it’s more making kids aware. Everyday I walk around and have a conversation with every kid who had an unexcused absence from two days ago, so we’re educating kids, ‘Hey there is a system, there’s somebody watching.’ Most of the time I have things working out pretty well. We solve problems for kids. But you know there are about 750 kids, so it’s a little bit of education you have to do.” Getting in depth about attendance Wells explains what ‘chronically absent’ is. “Chronically absent is missing 10 percent of school...” Wells also researches how attendance can affect your education. “There’s research that says anything over fi ve days during the year dramatically impacts the ability to learn, to retain and to do well.” Wells also explains the con- sequences if you’re chronically absent, “There’s a variety of things. You can lose some privileges like prom, dances, even graduation if you’re a senior. So if you don’t meet that marker then we could say ‘Well, it looks like you won’t be attending one of these things.’ As well as if it gets really bad, and we can’t seem to solve it within here then we have the ability to ask the Cottage Grove court system to fi ne parents $500.” Wells does a lot in Cottage Grove High School. Attendance is very important for one’s education, and managing it is a way of keeping it in track. Wells even enjoys his new role and how it is affecting stu- dents. “...I meet with every kid with an unexcused absence, so that’s about 20-30 kids everyday... Sounds like a lot of work in the morning, and it is, but also I have some of the same kids come back ‘Okay I want to do better, help me do better.’ That’s really been the positive aspect.” Wells hopes that with him monitoring the attendance, that it will increase and the kids will realize the impact of missing school. "Eleemosynary" opens at CGHS she would tell people to, “read the synopsis, be- cause it’s a little bit confusing because it goes back in time and the time-frame jumps around.” “A lot of fl uctu- ating emotions, a lot of yelling, there’s some Jackson Perkins/The Lion's Roar pretty cool costumes, and it’s short so Aislyn Morrill you don’t have to sit for that long” says The Lion's Roar Galbreath, who describes her character as “crazy, passionate, and determined.” Gal- Student-director Keiara Faville makes her directing debut with “Eleemosynary,” breath plays the youngest character in the play named Echo, who is the daughter of written by playwright Lee Blessing. Russell’s character, whose name is Artie. This is a play about the relationships Russell said her character described in between three generations of women, three words would be “sensitive, angry, how the power of words can control life, and caring.” The oldest character of the and how the lack of words can say much three is played by Owens. Her charac- more. “Eleemosynary” opens Thursday, ter’s name is Dorothea and is the mother January 25 and goes through Saturday, of Artie and the grandmother of Echo. January 27, starting at 7:30 p.m. each night with the doors opening at 7. Tickets Owens said in three words that Dorothea is “essential, wacky, and loving.” cost $5 for students and seniors and $10 Director Faville states she hand-picked for adults in the CGHS Cafetorium. this show for very specifi c reasons. She This three-woman show, starring Keely says that she, “chose ‘Eleemosynary’ be- Galbreath, Madison Owens and Cayla Russell, is described as, “A unique show, cause for my fi rst time directing a small and easy to manage cast. I wanted their with a lot of really funny parts,” said by full attention on the girls.” Galbreath. Owens says she would tell Since early December these three actors people coming to see the show for fi rst have vigorously worked on perfecting time, “to sit back and really pay attention their characters and performance for the to some of the things,” and Russell says show. Stage-manager, Shaye Fuller, says that she is most looking forward to, “hav- ing everyone see these glorious actresses act their hearts out.” When interviewed, Keiara Faville said she’s really excited for the show to open and says, “I really hope we have a good turnout and that people will like it and see all the hard work we have put into it.” Being confi dent in her actors and di- recting skills Faville isn’t worried about much when “Eleemosynary” is being performed, except she is concerned that not as many people as she’s expecting to show up will. With Cottage Grove being a small town, and arts programs not being the center focus of Cottage Grove High School, Faville is hoping that whoever does come to see the show will enjoy themselves and tell their friends and family to come see the show. While Faville is worried about how many people will be there, Technical-director Kesley Tucker is worried that a major prop, that is handmade by her, will rip. A large pair of wings worn by Cayla Rus- sell during the show is one of the largest, and most important props. Tucker has said that she struggled making them and struggled with trying to fi gure out how they work, but she is excited to fi nally be able to see these wings in action. Eleemosynary has been highly recom- mended by all of its cast and crew, so don’t miss your chance to experience the product of hard work, dedication, love and time. Clothing Continued from B9 presume about the quality of clothes in the closet, there are a lot of long-lasting, high quality brands, “We found a lot of nice clothes for both boys and girls, in varying sizes.” stated Dahlen, “The styles vary from casual blue jeans to classy button ups.” Some of the brands of clothing found includes Columbia, Levi, Hollister, American Eagle, Victoria Secret and Pink. On the oth- er hand, undesirable items were donated to the local Goodwill store, some of the donations were not of good quality or just out of style. The funding for the clothing closet comes from Oregon Ballot Measure 98 which was voted into place in the 2016 election. This measure helps prevent students from dropping out and funds career and college readiness in schools. It assists with starting initiatives which encourage kids to come to school, 2/9 - Sutherlin - Away - 5:45 (Girls) 7:15 (Boys) 1/30 - Elmira - Home - 5:45 (Boys) 7:15 (Girls) 2/13 - Sweet Home - Home 5:45 (Girls) 7:15 (Boys) 2/2 - Sisters - Away - 5:45 (Girls) 7:15 (Boys) 2/16 - Elmira - Away - 5:45 (Girls) 7:15 (Boys) and stay in school. For those wondering how to access it, Adler stated, “If you need clothes, the process is to tell an adult and we’ll fi nd you the person to talk to, it’s a quick little form, and then you go shopping.” Plus, every staff member in the high school has a key to open that door, so it’s even easier for students to access. The closet is an opportunity for CGHS to show how much it cares about their students having the necessary tools to strive, they believe that no student should be prevented from coming to school because they have nothing to wear. The Clothing Closet is in a room on the second fl oor in between the library and the computer lab, and although it is small in size, its impact on our school is not. Roar Continued from B9 staff feels obligated to also cover the news in between good and bad such as kids who couldn’t be the town’s sports stars because they had after-school jobs, or the students who were homeless, etc. The Lion’s Roar aimed and still aims to cover the people who are in a tight spot, who often do not have it quite bad enough in the eyes of the public to be worthy of news coverage. The job of anyone seen by the public, whether it be journalists, reporters, fi lmmakers, writers, or television show hosts, is to keep society aware of and thinking about their lives and the lives of others. It is impossible to think objectively about the big picture when you only know half or less of the information. The Lion’s Roar is here to show whatever is most relevant to the public regardless of its inherent popularity. News is pointless if this is not done.
