Education
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
A9
Ag mechanics students
test skills at Grant Union
20 students
from seven
schools
participate
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Contributed photos
Prairie City students in Meghan Tremblay’s class stop
for a photo in the ‘jaws’ of a shark at the Oregon Coast
Aquarium in Newport.
Prairie City students
visit Oregon Coast
Oregon Coast
Aquarium visits
Prairie City
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Prairie
City
teacher
Meghan Tremblay and her
fifth- and sixth-grade students
“unplugged” and enjoyed a
trip April 21-23 to the Oregon
Coast.
Earlier, on April 11, staff
members from Newport’s Or-
egon Coast Aquarium visited
Prairie City School, and all
the students learned charac-
teristics of various sea life.
“The little kids enjoyed
getting to touch the anemo-
ne,” Tremblay said.
Some students dressed up as
an anemone, star fish and other
creatures during the presenta-
tions. Sixth-grader Brooke Teel
dressed as an octopus.
“I thought it was really
fun, touching all the animals
and knowing their names,”
she said.
Teel said she’d never
been to the coast and was
looking forward to the trip
to Newport to learn more
about the animals she would
see there.
While in Newport, the
students visited the Oregon
Coast Aquarium and attend-
ed an outdoor school through
OMSI at Camp Gray, Trem-
blay said.
“The whole idea behind
outdoor school is to get the
kids outside, because kids
only spend an average of
seven minutes outside,” she
said. “If the kids don’t learn
anything else about the Ore-
gon Coast, I just want them
to appreciate the outdoors
and disconnect and realize
there is a whole different
world out there besides just
screens and technology.”
Grant Union senior Ty
McDaniel was the top-scor-
ing advanced student at the
April 19 Strawberry Moun-
tain FFA District Agricul-
tural Mechanics Career De-
velopment Event hosted by
Grant Union in John Day.
McDaniel was awarded a
$1,000 scholarship option to
Treasure Valley Community
College in Ontario.
The college normally
hosts the CDE, but is under-
going some renovations, and
Grant Union school officials,
including FFA adviser Adam
Ineck, offered their shop as a
space for the event.
Students from seven
schools participated, includ-
ing 10 students in the ad-
vanced group and 10 in the
beginning group.
The areas of competition
for advanced students in-
cluded MIG welding, plasma
cutting, tractor equipment
identification, practical mea-
suring and basic household
wiring/electrical.
Grant Union was the
top-scoring team in the ad-
vanced CDE, followed by
Crane in second, Prairie City
in third and Burnt River in
fourth.
For individuals, following
McDaniel was Joel Otley of
Crane in second, Noah Ray
of Burnt River in third and
Daniel Carpenter of Grant
Union in fourth.
Beginners tested their
abilities in arc welding, tool
identification, tractor and
equipment, basic measuring
and household wiring/elec-
trical.
Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
Looking over the welds made by students are, from left,
Dayville’s Austin Walker and FFA adviser Jim Latshaw,
Prairie City volunteer Wendell Black and Grant Union
students Ty McDaniel and Opie McDaniel.
A few competitors stand near the Robbins Farm
Equipment tractor, which was used for an identification
contest, including, from left, Prairie City’s Bladen Burril,
Jayden Winegar, Declan Zweygardt, Carson McKay, in
tractor seat Lucas McKinley, Burns’ Cooper Trindle and
Crane FFA members Jacob Dunn, Casey Otley, Brian
Clark and Joel Otley. There were also students from
Dayville, Burnt River (Unity) and Mitchell.
Grant Union was the
top-scoring team, with Prai-
rie City in second, Crane in
third and Mitchell in fourth.
Placing first was Casey
Otley of Crane, with Declan
Zweygardt of Prairie City in
second, Ben Henry of Grant
Union in third and Jayden
Winegar of Prairie City in
fourth.
“It was pretty fun, and I
had a good time at it,” said
Winegar. “I like the welding
part best.”
Grant Union freshman
Sophie Brockway said this
was her first time participat-
ing in the CDE.
“It’s fun to come here
and actually test the skills
that you’ve learned in shop
class,” she said.
Prairie City freshman
Bladen Burril said he learned
to do wiring and learned to
Sebastian Johnson of
Burns competes in the
electric section of the
April 19 contest.
identify parts of a tractor.
Prairie City FFA adviser
Lindy Cruise said the agri-
cultural mechanics CDE is a
favorite for her students.
“In a nutshell, it’s a lot of
specialty areas thrown into
the event,” she said. “Mr.
Ineck did a wonderful job
getting everything together.”
The event is student run
and is considered an intercur-
ricular opportunity for prac-
tical application of what the
students learn in class.
Other FFA advisers and
volunteers helped at the
event, and Ineck said a lot of
work went into hosting it.
“There is a high proba-
bility that we’ll host the next
couple years,” he said. “It
went extremely well, and we
had some quality students.”
“A big thank you to Rob-
bins Equipment in Burns for
donating the tractor — they
hauled it here and hauled it
back,” Ineck said. “And a big
thank you to all of the advis-
ers and volunteers that made
today a fantastic success.”
Ineck drove five Grant
Union students by bus to On-
tario Friday, April 27, to take
the welding qualification test
at Treasure Valley Commu-
nity College, which is the
American Welding Society
basic test for entry-level
welders.
Dayville students shine in ‘World Life Experience’
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Dayville students took the
spotlight at the school Thursday,
April 26, in a theatrical perfor-
mance, “World Life Experience,”
using puppetry and black lights to
bring a colorful array of animals to
life through movement and music.
All the Dayville students, kin-
dergarten through 12th grade,
learned performing arts skills
with artist-in-residence Lawrence
Adrian, who is the artistic director
of The Oregon Coast Children’s
Theatre based in Toledo.
The production included infor-
mation on various animals, their
characteristics and how they con-
tribute to the earth.
Fourth-grader Sierra Jenks and
several other students said they
liked how the colors glow un-
der the black lights.
“I liked the bright colors and
all the cool puppets,” she said.
Fifth-grader Riley Gregg
also enjoyed the black lights
and the music. Adrian said, be-
cause the school is so small, ev-
eryone participates, and some
operate four or five puppets.
“We’re all about blending
the arts with educational bench-
marks, in this case natural sci-
ences, also the experience of
learning the performing arts,”
Adrian said.
Kerri Latshaw, who teaches
grades 6-8, said the students
took their parts seriously.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
“I’ve been impressed with
their engagement,” she said. “I Lighting up their bird by the black light are, from
like that they’re starting to learn left, fourth-grader Preston Fretwell, fifth-grader Riley
Gregg and third-grader Cooper Holly.
some theater from this.”
Prairie City fifth- and sixth-graders touch sea anemone
and star fish at the Oregon Coast Aquarium during their
trip to Newport.
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