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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 2017)
Polk County News CTE aims to bring career focus to youth DEADLINES NEWS DEADLINES For inclusion in the Wednesday edition of the Itemizer-Observer: Social news (weddings, engagements, anniver- saries, births, milestones) — 5 p.m. on Thursday. Community events — Noon on Friday for both the Community Notebook and Community Calendar. Letters to the editor — 10 a.m. on Monday. Obituaries — 4 p.m. on Monday. ADVERTISING DEADLINES Retail display ads — 3 p.m. Friday. Classified display ads — 11 a.m. on Monday. Classified line ads — Noon on Monday. Classified ads are updated daily on www.polkio.com. Public notices — Noon on Friday. CORRECTIONS The Polk County Itemizer- Observer is committed to pub- lishing accurate news, feature and sports reports. If you see anything that requires a cor- rection or clarification, call the newsroom at 503-623-2373 or send an email to ementzer@polkio.com. WEBSITE The Polk County Itemizer- Observer website, www.polkio.com, is updat- ed each week by Wednes- day afternoon. There, you will find nearly every story that appears in the print version of the newspaper, as well as some items, in- cluding additional photos, that do not appear in print due to space limitations. The Itemizer-Observer is also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Watch for breaking news, links to sto- ries, sports scores updates and more. WEATHER RECORDED HIGH LOW Nov. 21 ............. 63 Nov. 22 ............. 64 Nov. 23 ............. 62 Nov. 24 ............. 56 Nov. 25 ............. 45 Nov. 26 ............. 59 Nov. 27 ............. 50 47 56 44 39 37 41 37 Polk County Itemizer-Observer • November 29, 2017 3A RAIN .48 .38 .38 .01 .09 .25 .00 Coordinator to get high-schoolers away from going to college for sake of college Editor’s note: This is the first in series of stories look- ing at Dallas High School’s developing “career and tech- nical education” program, and how they are changing education. By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer DALLAS — Ask Dallas High School career technical education coordinator Tim Ray what one of his biggest pet peeves is and he will say it’s a student who goes to college who doesn’t know why. He said that often those students think attending college is “what I’m are sup- posed to do.” “This isn’t the 1970s any- more where everybody goes to college just to learn how to be an adult,” Ray said. “It cost too much stinking money to do that.” He wants to give students better options. Ray has guided the initial approval of six CTE pro- grams since coming back to DHS in March. His work is paid for by Measure 98, which voters approved in 2016 to send money to school districts to expand CTE classes, college credit opportunities and prevent students from drop- ping out. The six programs at DHS are agriculture, business, culinary, engineering, visual media arts, and health sci- ences. For three of the pro- grams, Chemeketa Commu- nity College provides in- struction, which offers stu- dents both high school and college credit. DHS also started an AVID program to help keep students in school. Ray has more goals than those spelled out in Measure 98. He wants to create a sys- tem that gives students a re- alistic idea of what a career in one of those six fields would look like. He said too many stu- dents are inspired to pursue a career based on unrealistic expectations. Ray believes it’s his job to “bridge the gap” between what kids see in movies and on TV and what happens in the real world. “When they leave here, life becomes very conse- quential in a hurry, and it costs a lot of dollars to make changes, so we are trying to expose them to as many dif- ferent things as possible here, so they can figure out what they don’t like,” Ray said. “That’s maybe more important than what they do like.” Ray said he had a student who was set on enrolling in the nursing program at Chemeketa after graduation come to him six weeks after beginning a class in the health science program and say that she needed to do something else. She paid $25 dollars to take the dual-credit course. “She was about to enroll in a nursing program at Chemeketa and spend thou- sands of dollars to end up doing something that she figured out for $25 and six weeks that she didn’t want to do,” Ray said. Now she’s learning to weld, something that she enjoys. “I consider that a huge win,” Ray said. “Other peo- ple might not, but I think that’s a win.” In the second semester, internships will be part of the equation. Ray said he’ll pilot a program in which student apply and interview for an internship. Businesses will select their interns — and can fire them, too. “I told them that if they don’t do what they are sup- posed to do, they can get fired,” Ray said. “They come back and see me, and we find them a different place to be. We got to start bridg- ing that gap.” He wants to move stu- dents away from thinking they must go to college. CTE programs are de- signed so students can con- tinue their education after graduation or have the skills to get a job right away. Ray said he’s seen it hap- pen with former students who took the same agricul- tural classes from him when he was a teacher at DHS. One is finishing his mas- ter’s degree and the other didn’t go to college, but is advancing in a career that began shortly after he grad- uated from DHS. “Two totally different tracks, both are going to be highly successful individu- als,” Ray said. “Similar skill sets, but had different goals of where they wanted to go. Our program, our school, al- lowed them both to be suc- cessful, and that is what I want for every kid.” Working with Chemeketa and business leaders in the community, Ray’s dream is to create an educational en- vironment that keeps home- grown talent in Polk County. The state requires that school districts have an ad- visory committee to guide CTE program development. Ray has used that oppor- tunity to ask local business- es what they need from Dal- las schools to create a pipeline from graduation to jobs without having to send young people out of town. “There is so much talent that we lose because we farm it out,” he said. “We neglect to tell students the opportunities that are right here in their backyard.” He said the advisory com- mittee’s new task is creating and “employability score” for each graduate. The score would track what Ray calls professional skills — punctuality, work ethic, problem-solving skills and critical-thinking abili- ty — demonstrated while students are in high school. Business leaders would help develop it, so they will know what it means when applicants present it on a re- sume. For students, he hopes that applying a score for those attributes will impress upon them that technical skills and knowledge aren’t the only qualifications for getting and keeping a job. “I don’t care what you want to do, but if you want to be a professional at it, you’ve got to show up on time, you’ve got to work hard, you’ve got to clean up,” he said. “If you’re sup- posed to work until 4, you work until 4, then you clean your stuff up and go home.” Next week, see what goes on in CTE classrooms as teachers prepare students for careers. Driver of submerged vehicle identified Itemizer-Observer staff report SALEM — The driver of the vehicle found submerged in the Willamette River has been identified as Anne Marie Rose, 89, of Salem. Investigators believe Rose was operating her vehicle when she accidently drove into the water at the entrance to the Buena Vista Ferry. A ferry boat operated locat- ed the submerged vehicle on Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. in the Santiam River near the Buena Vista ferry ramp. First responders arrived on the scene shortly after. The Sheriff's Office would like to send its condolences to Ms. Rose's family and thank the below agencies for their assis- tance in the recovery of Ms. Rose and her vehicle. LUCKIAMUTE DOMESTIC WATER COOPERATIVE BOARD MEETING St. Thomas Episcopal Church Rainfall during Nov. — 6.10 in. Rain through Nov. 27 — 47.36 in. ANNUAL CHRISTMAS BAZAAR & HOLIDAY RUMMAGE SALE Friday & Saturday December 1st & 2nd 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Visit our website 1486 SW Levens, Dallas www.polkio.com • swags • ornaments • gifts • homemade goodies & other items • gently used clothing Soup & Pie Luncheon both days! For more information 503-917-9402 St. Philip Catholic Church Annual Holiday Bazaar Find us on 825 SW Mill St., Dallas Sat. Dec. 2nd 9:00am - 2pm FREE Admission •Crafted Holiday Gifts & Decorations •Homemade: Holiday Cookies, Breads and Candies •Swags • Centerpieces • Poinsettias • Wreaths Soup & Pie Luncheon served All Day Raffle & Silent Auction Tickets $2.00 each Prizes include: Coast Trip for 2; $300 Gift Card; and other cash prizes. Proceeds benefit educational scholarships, community & charitable parish activities. For more info, Janet 503-623-5693 Retirement Reception Sunday, Dec. 10 4:00 Program Pastor Jerry & Joy Franz Reception to follow Pastor Allan Wiebe Evangelical Bible Church invites you to join us in celebrating the life ministry of both pastors. Evangelical Bible Church • 1175 SW Howe St, Dallas, OR Monday 7:00 p.m. December 11th 503-838-2075 Location: Business Office 8585 Suver Rd. • Monmouth Come and see me for your hearing needs. Mark Sturtevant Serving the community since 1992. 503-623-0290 • 312 Main Street, Dallas