Polk County Education
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • May 10, 2017 13A
Aladdin: Story has ‘good message’
Continued from page 14A
“Beggar becomes prince,
tries to impress everyone, but
realizes that if he was just
himself from the beginning,
he could have gotten the girl
in the end,” he said.
Lewis said the story is rel-
evant to modern society.
“The technology’s coming
in and taking over everyone’s
lives,” Lewis said. “Just being
whoever they are online or
on the internet. I think it’s
about time we put those
down and think about our-
selves and each other.”
Lewis plays the infamous
Genie, first immortalized by
Robin Williams. Having such
big shoes to fill has been
great for Lewis.
“I kind of love having
something to live up to, be-
cause it gives me something
to work toward,” he said.
It drives him to continue
making his character “fan-
tastically extravagant and
flamboyant,” Lewis said.
“I’m supposed to be this
blue guy who comes out of a
lamp,” he said. “How do you
build this giant character
that’s out of something
maybe that’s not considered
to be that big?”
Ta k i n g n o t e s f r o m
Williams, Lewis said he
throws in accents and char-
acters whenever he can —
and he improvises jokes, too.
“I’m doing Yoda, Elmo,
Capt. Jack Sparrow — any-
thing I can fit in there when-
ever I can,” Lewis said. “Say
WOU approves tuition increase
MONMOUTH — Western Oregon University board of trustees
voted to approve tuition increases on a sliding scale, depending
on how much money the state Legislature approves for public
universities in its current session.
The increased tuition rates will affect students on the Tradi-
tional Plan in WOU’s Tuition Choice program.
Depending on what is approved by the Legislature, tuition
will increase by 5 to 10 percent.
ACADEMIC HONORS
Locals named to Phi Kappa Phi
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
Guards try and hold Aladdin, played by Joel Robison, during a rehearsal.
something as a character and
make everyone laugh a little.
My goal is to make the ones
up top in the spotlights laugh
a little bit. They’re not sup-
posed to, so I know if I make
them laugh, I’m doing my
job.”
Lewis is no stranger to
larger-than-life roles, but
“Aladdin Jr.” has presented a
challenge in how long he has
to keep it up.
“I have nothing to do for
the first 15 minutes, then the
whole rest of the show I’m
running around constantly,”
he said. “It’s hard work, but it
pays off in the end.”
Santillan said seeing the
show is a must.
Arabian Nights
What: Central High School Performing Arts presents, “Al-
addin Jr.”
Where: Central High School auditorium, 1530 Monmouth
St., Independence.
When: Wednesday through Saturday, 7 p.m. Saturday in-
cludes a chance to have lunch with the cast before a 2 p.m.
matinee. The play also runs Wednesday, May 17, through
May 20 at 7 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee. Audience members
are invited to sing along at the May 20 matinee performance.
Admission: General, $8; students, $5.
“It’s Disney, and it’s always
amazing to see magic come
into real life,” she said. “And
it’s really nice to see the
meaning behind it. It kind of
shows it doesn’t matter what
side you come from,
whether you’re a princess or
a street rat, it doesn’t matter
because we all feel the exact
same way, whether we’re
higher up or lower down.
You can stand up to bullies.
You can do what you want if
you believe in it. It’s just a
good message.”
DSD schools to have busy building summer
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Schools in
Dallas School District are
heading into a summer of
construction.
Contractors and district
maintenance staff will be on
a compressed schedule to
complete nearly $7 million
of work in three different
schools in the time students
are away. The projects —
building multi-purpose
SCHOOL NOTES
cafeteria/kitchens at Lyle
and Oakdale elementary
schools and seismic up-
grades at Whitworth Ele-
mentary — are paid for with
either a voter-approved
maintenance bond money
or grant. Contracts for those
were approved last month.
“We are in the process of
reviewing those contracts
and we’re applying for per-
mits for the three projects,”
said Kevin Montague, the
district’s facilities director.
He said the buildings are
being prepped for the proj-
ects, work that included as-
bestos abatement at Whit-
worth over spring break.
Getting that project out of
the way allows construction
to start immediately after
school ends.
Montague said the project
was organized and complet-
ed on time.
“We have a challenge
coming at us this summer,
but after what happened
over spring break, I’m confi-
dent we have the right team
in place,” he said.
In other business, the dis-
trict’s Energy Incentive Pro-
gram application is awaiting
final authorization. The
grant could bring the district
as much as $900,000.
“We are currently looking
at failing, end-of-life HVAC
equipment replacement and
district-wide LED lighting
upgrades for this program,”
Montague said.
BATON ROUGE — The following local residents were initi-
ated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's
oldest and most selective all-discipline collegiate honor soci-
ety.
They were initiated at Western Oregon University.
Dallas: Maria Mccarthy.
Falls City: Serena LeBleu.
Independence: Eliana Belle, Ruth Yawata and Sarah Lilly.
Monmouth: Alison Nelke; Amanda Short; Britton Castor;
Brook Cummings; Darryl Thomas; Dean Braa; Hailey Wren;
James Masnov; Kjerstin Stanavige; Lindsay Spear; Mario Mar-
tinez Garcia; Marita Cardinal; Max Norr; Paula Baldwin; Robyn
Lopez Melton; Sara Madden; and Sophia Dykast.
Salem: Jacob Dougherty, Marcy Premo and Rachel Culpovich.
These initiated are among about 30,000 students, faculty,
professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi
each year.
Membership is by invitation only and requires nomination
and approval by a chapter.
Polk students make honor roll
ADAIR VILLAGE — Santiam Christian Schools released its
2016-17 school year third-quarter honor roll.
The following are the Polk County students who made the
list.
12th Grade — 4.0 GPA: Mikayla Manzi (Monmouth) and
August Thornton (Independence). 3.5 and higher GPA: Peggy
Liang (Independence); Long Nguyen (Monmouth); Katie Richert
(Dallas); Makenna Setniker (Dallas); Shao-en (Sean) Wang (Dal-
las); and Alexandra Watson (Dallas).
11th Grade — 4.0 GPA: Hoang Nguyen (Dallas); Kyle Para-
tore (Independence); Zachary Watson (Dallas); Jenny Wei (Inde-
pendence); and Billy Zhang (Dallas). 3.50 GPA and higher:
Samuel Barton (Monmouth); Kaylee Breyman (Independence);
Shawn Feng (Monmouth); Grace Moseman (Dallas); Sebastian
Perfecto (Independence); Rebeka Preston (Independence) and
Buckley Sheng (Monmouth).
10th Grade — 4.0 GPA: Carlos Garcia Palomar (Dallas); Tony
Li (Dallas); Jason Manzi (Monmouth); Abby Riedlinger (Indepen-
dence); Cole Setniker (Dallas). 3.50 and higher GPA: Winn
Miller (West Salem) and Isabel Montoya (Dallas).
Ninth Grade — 4.0 GPA: Ainsley Beam (Monmouth) and
Amanda Preston (Independence). 3.5 GPA and higher: Olivia
Bellinger-Verbics (Monmouth); James Bodnovits Independ-
ence); Lily Hardy (Dallas); Trevor Oxenrider (Independence).
Eighth Grade — 4.0 GPA: Caroline Conolly (Dallas); Keilana
Oxenrider (Independence); and Ben Steffen (Independence).
3.5 GPA and higher: Cooper Brasel (Monmouth); Ann Liv-
ingston (Monmouth); Joshua Montoya (Dallas); Carolyn Wilfong
(Monmouth).
Seventh Grade — 4.0 GPA: Ely Kennel (Monmouth) and
Jamie Myrick-Duckett (Independence). 3.5 GPA and higher:
Adrien Barba (Dallas); Eli Cummins (Monmouth); and Abi Von
Derahe (Monmouth).
No one has Polk County covered better!
✭ June 14 • Pre-Eclipse Guide
✭ Graduations Coverage
✭ 4th of July Guide
✭ Summerfest Guide
✭ Polk County Fair Guide
✭ The BIG ECLIPSE
(souvenir edition)
And so much more!
All found inside your
subscription to the
Itemizer-Observer.
503-623-2373