Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, January 4, 2017
EXCHANGE STUDENTS
-Continued from PAGE ONE used to.”
Sara Staedelin (cont.)
so different—I experienced
a lot, I learned a lot, and that
helped me grow a lot.”
What has been the most
difficult thing about this
experience? “The language.
I was one of the best in
my class in Switzerland,
but when I came here I
was super self-conscious.
I had trouble communicat-
ing, even math was hard.
We learn basic stuff (in
English), how to carry on
a conversation, but I nev-
er learned anything about
math in English. I didn’t
know the terms. And I had
to change my mindset, tell
myself it’s okay to make
mistakes because I’m still
learning.”
What have you liked
best? “There are so many
things that I like…the mem-
ories that I make here with
my host family. We always
have a lot of fun. When we
go somewhere, see different
places, the experiences we
have, like when we’re in the
car, the memories we make,
that makes me super happy.
And the school spirit. All
the new things I’m not
What special events or
holidays have you experi-
enced while you were here?
What was that experience
like? “Homecoming, be-
cause I was so happy be-
cause that was the first time
when I felt the whole bond
that the school had. Deco-
rating the floats. The bonfire
was cool. The Homecom-
ing dance was a lot of fun,
dancing with all the people
I like and with amazing
music. That was the most
outstanding. Thanksgiving
was good, too. The food
was amazing.”
And American choco-
late versus Swiss choco-
late? “I tried Hershey’s, and
it was gross, in my opinion.
I asked my mom to send me
some chocolate, because
I don’t like the chocolate
here. I tried some chocolate
fudge stuff today, though,
and it was amazing.”
Any last thoughts? “I
really like the support I get
from all the people in the
community, not just the
school—the parents, the
people I’ve met. I think
they’re amazing, and I feel
very welcome here.”
CARTY PLANT
-Continued from PAGE ONE production of 1,360 MW
PGE to build a 50-MW
solar farm at the Carty site.
The solar plant would be
located on 315 acres and
will produce power by con-
verting incoming sunlight
to direct-current electrical
power. The farm would
be comprised of multiple
solar arrays consisting of
a series of photovoltaic
(PV) modules connected
to an inverter and sup-
porting equipment. The
final mounting system, ar-
ray size, dimensions and
number of arrays will be
determined during the final
detailed design and equip-
ment selection process.
When all the new
Boardman generating facil-
ities are completed they will
have a combined maximum
of electricity. To put this
in perspective, The Dalles
Dam has an installed maxi-
mum capacity of 1,878.3
MW, the Boardman Coal
Plant 550 MW, and the
Shepherds Flat Wind Farm,
with 338 towers, has a max-
imum generating capacity
of 845 MW.
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Energy is in the
processes of approving the
application, and has put
out public notice it will
be accepting comments
on the application until
Feb. 3. More information
about all these facilities
can be obtained from the
department’s web site at
http://www.oregon.gov/
energy/Siting/Pages/Facili-
ties.aspx.
DA’s Report
Morrow County District Attorney Justin Nelson has
released the following report:
-Marion Taylor III, 57, was convicted of Failure to
Appear II, a Class A Misdemeanor, and sentenced to 90
days’ jail time with credit for time served. An additional
count of Failure to Appear II was dismissed.
January Holly Rebekah
card party cancelled
Due to the cold weather, Holly Rebekah Lodge in
Lexington will not be having its monthly card party on
Jan. 7. They hope to start back up in February.
NOW
HIRING
DRIVERS
Goncalo Silva (cont.)
just to study—I’m having
fun.”
What has been the most
difficult thing about this
experience? “The distance.
Everything is super far
away. The fact that you are
living in a small town. If
you want to go to a movie
or something with your
friends, you have to drive
far away. Also, the place
where I am living is far
away from everybody. It
makes it difficult to connect
outside of school.”
What have you liked
best? “The (host) family. I
think I was very lucky with
the family. The friends, the
way they accept me in their
friends group. The teachers,
the school environment.
I love football. And the
snow! I love the snow.”
What special events or
holidays have you experi-
enced while you were here?
What was that experience
like? “I liked Homecoming
week. It was probably the
best here. All the activi-
ties, and the dance. I liked
Thanksgiving. I liked the
ham. We don’t have ham
in Portugal—ham for sand-
wiches, but not cooked ham
like that.”
Any last thoughts? “It’s
going to be hard to leave. I
did so many things in four
months already. It will be
hard to leave this large fam-
ily behind.”
- THREE
101 new children’s books at
Ione library
Mary Walker, Ione Public Library Director, and Kristy Crowell (not pictured) have been
busy cataloging 101 new children’s books which will be added to circulation over the next few
months. These fiction and nonfiction books were received through a grant from The Pilcrow
Foundation, a national nonprofit public charity. Their grant (provided by Hal Berenson and
Laura Ackerman, as well as Bill Strawbridge and Meg Wallhagan) was a 2-to-1 match, with
the Ione Topic Club sponsoring the match. The library encourages all young readers to come
and check out these books. -Contributed photo
FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR TEENS
-Continued from PAGE ONE this knowledge helps fuel vey that would be given to involved in this project?
Petra Payne, who teaches
the Senior Transitions class
at Heppner High School,
worked with Van Schoiack
and school officials to put
together the special “work
experience” class.
Emily, Tim and Kane
have different reasons why
they elected to sign up for
this class but they all have
a common interest—to help
others in their community
gain knowledge about per-
sonal finance.
“The main reason I
decided to take the class
was that I wanted to learn
about personal finance and
use my social media skills
to benefit others,” says Tim.
“Since the first day of class
we have accomplished so
much and we already shat-
tered some of our goals. It
is amazing to so see how
as a group we work so well
together and have accom-
plished so much. I have
learned a lot about personal
finance that will help me in
my life.”
Emily says she is in-
terested in marketing and
anticipated that it would be
good experience for her.
“Now, after taking this
class for a while, I have dis-
covered it is important not
only to me but to my peers.
Through this class my eyes
have been opened to the
need for financial literacy in
our community,” she says.
“I now see that by doing
this work and getting this
information out there that I
am not only bettering my-
self by gaining marketing
skills and information on
personal finance, I’m also
helping my community.”
Kane says he wanted
to take the class to acquire
knowledge about personal
finance and is finding that
helping others to acquire
his interest and enjoyment
in the class.
“I feel like this op-
portunity is really unique
because, while we get to
develop skills and learn
about personal finance, we
also get to help our friends
and give them the tools
to succeed in the future.
I think that’s really cool,
and beneficial to everyone.
That’s the reason I decided
to do the project and that’s
the reason I still enjoy it
today,” says Kane.
The three students act
as advisors to Van Schoiack
on how to best commu-
nicate with youth ages 15
to 25, as well as help her
learn what the most impor-
tant topics are to their age
group. The work is intense
and requires them to use
presentation skills and mar-
keting skills, develop their
knowledge on personal fi-
nance topics, create videos,
research personal finance
topics, conduct surveys and
interviews, and employ lots
of creativity to develop the
project.
The first steps in the
project have been develop-
ing and setting up a Face-
book page dedicated to
those who are just getting
started in life. Along with
this the students participat-
ed in the process of select-
ing the new website design
for Blue Mountain Invest-
ment Management, which
will also have a blog page
dedicated to their project.
The topics the students
cover are based on their
financial knowledge needs
as well as what their peers
have told them they want
to know about. To find out
what their peers want to
know, they decided that
they would conduct a sur-
Community lunch
menu
All Saints Episcopal
and Hope and Valby Lu-
theran volunteers will serve
lunch on Wednesday, Jan.
11, at St. Patrick’s Senior
Center. Lunch will include
chicken parmesan, noodles,
roasted vegetables, green
salad, garlic bread and ti-
ramisu.
Milk is served at each
meal. Suggested donation
is $3.50 per meal. Menu is
subject to change.
fellow seniors at their high
school. The survey was
based on the major topic
categories of the online
Financial Literacy course
that all seniors at Heppner
High are required to take.
The course is provided by
the Bank of Eastern Or-
egon and covers all of the
major and most important
areas of personal finance.
The survey was conducted
by interviewing each of
their classmates in the se-
nior transition class. They
took the results back to
Van Schoiack’s office and
together compiled the data
to come up with the over-
arching topics that guide the
posts on the Facebook page.
Every week they re-
search topics their class-
mates want to know about.
They base the timing of the
topics on what activities
and decisions the seniors
are engaged in at each point
during the year. In October
there was even informa-
tion on how to get a food
handler card, which is one
of the requirements for
graduation.
After researching the
topics and selecting what
they want to post, the stu-
dents provide them to Van
Schoiack on a spreadsheet
along with the dates and
times that they want them
posted. Van Schoiack then
reviews the suggested posts
and submits them for re-
view by the compliance
department of Cetera Ad-
visors LLC. This is the
required “regulatory” re-
view. When the posts are
approved, they are released
on the Facebook page at the
scheduled time.
It’s easy to see what the
students get out of the deal,
but why is Van Schoiack
“I enjoy teaching and
helping people develop
their knowledge about in-
vesting and personal fi-
nance. I have always taught
within the field throughout
my career. Basic personal
finance information is very
important to know about
and affects the trajectory
of our lives,” she says.
“Personal finance, and es-
pecially knowledge about
investing and saving, are
not learned in the normal
course of our lives and is
typically information that
is not included in a school
curriculum.
“Over the years of
working with people and
their finances I have ob-
served that financial mis-
takes made at a young age
has the potential to have
negative impact on a per-
son’s life and the lives of
those around them for a
long time into adulthood,”
says Van Schoiack. “Like-
wise, good financial deci-
sions have a positive effect
on a person’s life and the
lives of others around them.
If we have a solid financial
foundation it helps with all
aspects of our life and also
positively impacts the com-
munities in which we live.”
Emily, Tim and Kane
invite community members
to “like” their Facebook
page. It is called “Blue
Mountain Investment Man-
agement LLC for Students.”
Readers can find it quickly
by doing a Google search
and typing the entire name
in and adding the word
“Facebook” at the end.
They also invite every-
one to visit their page on the
website of Blue Mountain
Investment Management
LLC, which will be avail-
able in late January.
Worship, prayer night
planned at local church
Christian Life Center
is greeting the New Year
by holding a worship and
prayer night on Saturday,
Jan. 7, at 7 p.m. All are
welcome.
“Our community has
many prayer needs as we
enter into 2017,” said a
church statement. “Let’s
come together in unity.”
Anyone who has spe-
cific prayer requests they
would like to have added to
the night, email clcheppner.
office@gmail.com, call
541-676-5814 or text 541-
256-0962.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.