December 1, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 9A
Manzanita Holiday Kids Fair highlights local nonprofits
Craft fair for
kids back
after tornado
canceled last
year’s event
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Dozens of families packed
into the Pine Grove Commu-
nity Center on Friday, Nov.
24, to ring in the holiday sea-
son at the Manzanita Holiday
Kids Fair.
Glitter, markers, paints
and other craft supplies were
strewn about a dozen tables.
Each of the tables were hosted
by a different local nonprofit
organization, offering activ-
ities like ornament painting,
printmaking and a photo
booth. Santa and Mrs. Claus
were there, too, asking what
every kid wanted for Christ-
mas.
The event started about
three years ago, but it’s the
fair’s first time back since last
year’s tornado ripped through
downtown, said Dan Haag,
coordinator of the Manzanita
Visitor Center.
“We weren’t sure what
interest was going to be like
since we took a year off af-
ter the tornado,” Haag said.
But after looking around a
room packed with people, he
assessed it “looked like they
were interested.”
LEFT: Kids make holiday ornaments at the Manzanita Hol-
iday Kids Fair. ABOVE: Debbie Freeman shows Cameron
Whittle the ornament they made together at the Manzanita
Holiday Kids Fair.
BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
The purpose of the event
is to offer families a way to
get to know different organi-
zations in the area, Haag said,
including some from Clatsop
County like the Haystack
Rock Awareness Program and
Cannon Beach History Center
& Museum.
Nestled in the corner was
Megan Sokol, the arts edu-
cation director of the Can-
non Beach Arts Association.
Sokol taught kids how to
make “whimsical shrinkies,”
or more commonly referred
to as Shrinky Dinks. Kids can
draw on a special plastic that
when exposed to heat will
shrink the design more than
‘Art and play is how children express themselves,
how they speak to us. When kids do art, they
are developing self-confidence that they bring
into adulthood. And that’s invaluable.’
Megan Sokol
arts education director of the Cannon Beach Arts Association
50 percent of the original size
and harden so they can hang
them as ornaments.
“I got the idea when I start-
ed making little hands with
Shrinky Dink for the arts as-
sociation — helping hands, I
called them. I got requests to
make jewelry with them and
sold them at the gallery,” Sokol
said. “Then the funds went to
our summer camp program.”
Sokol hoped the presence
at the kid’s fair would edu-
cate more kids and parents
about the association’s efforts
to expand its annual summer
arts camps. Sokol, in her first
year at the nonprofit art gal-
lery, is working with the as-
sociation’s new director, Cara
Mico, to expand the camp to
offer more variety in class-
es and scholarships to allow
more kids to attend them.
In the past, the association
has offered classes like wa-
tercolors, spray paint art and
printmaking, but hopes to of-
fer music and movement art
classes next July. Sokol also
plans to have a pop-up exhibit
for the first time at the end of
the program, which will fea-
ture all of the creations stu-
dents worked on throughout
the week.
In general, most of the kids
left the fair with tree orna-
ments or doodles of reindeer.
But Sokol argues there’s a
larger picture kids are taking
home.
“Art and play is how chil-
dren express themselves, how
they speak to us,” she said.
“When kids do art, they are
developing self-confidence
that they bring into adulthood.
And that’s invaluable.”
Building relationships is key to helping students prepare for college
By Susan Cody
For EO Media Group
“This is the best job I’ve
ever had,” says Jon Graves.
“Students I have worked with
are now nurses, getting Ph.Ds
or in Japan teaching English.
They have gone to college,
they have succeeded and are
giving back. That is really sat-
isfying.”
Graves is the director of
pre-college programs at Clat-
sop Community College. For
12 years he has guided students
through the maze of college ap-
plications and tests to prepare
them for a successful future.
Two federal programs, Upward
Bound and Talent Search, are
the main focus of his work.
Upward
Bound
and
Talent Search
are programs
introduced by
President Lyn-
Jon Graves don Johnson’s
War on Poverty
in 1965 to get low-income stu-
dents through high school and
into college. The goal was to
combat generations of poverty.
Both programs are de-
signed for students who are
from low-income households
or whose parents have not
earned a bachelor’s degree,
or both. They are guided on a
path to finish high school and
be the first generation in their
family to receive a college ed-
ucation.
The college has embraced
the programs since the early
1990s. Around 75 percent of
the students begin college and
about 40 percent earn a bach-
elor’s or associate’s degree,
Graves says.
In Clatsop County, 671 stu-
dents are participating in the
Talent Search program that
targets sixth- to 12th-graders.
Upward Bound has 73 students
from ninth to 12th grade. Eight
staff members and school
counselors work with students
at Knappa, Astoria, Warrenton
and Seaside.
The sister programs work
with the same caseload of stu-
dents.
“We help get kids through
high school, which can be a
crazy time,” Graves says.
“Building relationships is
huge. One of the best things
to help students succeed is to
build relationships with them
so they know there is always
an adult in their corner. Unfor-
tunately, not all students have
that support.”
Talent Search and Upward
Bound host field trips to col-
leges, throwing together 30
to 40 students from different
schools.
“Relationships
between
the students in the different
schools is just phenomenal,”
Graves says.
“It is fun to watch kids in-
teract with each other. They
have opinions about other
schools. When the field trip be-
gins, kids from each school sit
together in their own section
of the bus. By the end of the
trip, everyone is spread out and
talking to each other, exchang-
ing phone numbers.
“It is amazing to see how it
broadens their support group
in Clatsop County and brings
down some of the barriers
that are artificially imposed
on everyone because of what
school they go to. It’s just
great.”
During the school year,
Talent Search works with high
school and middle school stu-
dents. Goal-setting is one of
the fundamental steps of col-
lege preparation. Staff con-
duct workshops on study skills
and encourage students to pay
attention to their grades and
make sure they get the right
credits to graduate. As Graves
says, everything matters.
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