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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 2015)
A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 FROM PAGE A1 what would work best with the climate and soil type of the area. “I wanted them to get an opportunity to be creative and come up with their own ideas,” he said. “They are so used to doing it in the classroom and not being able to be as creative. So I tried to get them to think outside the box and utilize their abilities that will be easy maintenance, have curb appeal and be family oriented.” Bennett said he invited the students out to his home in Hermiston so they could see some of the plants and projects he was experi- menting with there. He and the students then took a trip around town where stu- dents examined landscap- ing examples at various businesses and lots. Sophomore Wyatt Pas- chal said the whole expe- rience has been useful to him because he too hopes to become an agriculture teacher one day, and he appreciates the opportu- nity to be mentored by someone who already is LQ WKH ¿HOG /LNH 9DQGH- hey, he said he will use the skills he learns with his future classes. “We might be able to plant a garden,” he said. “It gives me a background on what to know. I think it will be pretty useful.” So far, the students have mostly only tackled planning for the project. With spring right around the corner, however, the students are excited to get their hands dirty. “We are just starting to be able to do some stuff,” junior Jansen Edmiston said this week. “We’re GLJJLQJ WKH ¿UH SLW ULJKW now, and we’re working on the back yard. We did CENTER continued from page A1 possession of the Uma- tilla County Fairgrounds, which houses the current center, and the fair moves to the new Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center un- der construction near the Hermiston airport. Fetter said the commit- tee has toured other senior MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO From left, Hermiston High School junior Jansen Edmiston, junior Emily Vandehey and sophomore Wyatt Paschal work on plants that will be sold in the school plant sale in May. Each of the three students are participating in the school’s advanced landscaping class, which is doing the design and landscaping work for the &olumbia %asin Student Homebuilder program’s Àrst studentbuilt home. WKHSODQWLQJRIWKHÀRZHUV by the main sign.” The overall design of the yard has yet to be com- pleted, Bennett said, but students are slowly mak- ing strides with the limited time they have available to get everything done. He VDLG LQ DGGLWLRQ WR D ¿UH pit, the students would like to add a bench swing in the back yard and a variety of plants that will suit Herm- iston’s climate. He said they have yet to start on the front yard. Edmiston said she is most excited to see what WKH¿QDOSURMHFWORRNVOLNH when it is completed at the end of the year. “I’m excited to see it all come together,” she said. 9DQGHKH\DJUHHG “Twenty years later, when we drive past the house, we can say, ‘Hey, I put that there,’ ” she said. Paschal said he is also excited about learning the business side of landscap- ing. For the project, the students had to work with Davies to come up with a budget like they would in a real-life scenario. “You get to go through your goals and priorities,” he said. “I like learning all the business perspectives.” Bennett said he has en- joyed mentoring the stu- dents, even though they have struggled with stay- ing focused at times. “It is rewarding in a sense because, when we JHW LW ¿QLVKHG WKH\ DUH going to be able to see it DQG UHÀHFW RQ LW´ KH VDLG “With this millennials gen- eration, maybe some of them will want to become gardeners. This might help WKHP¿QGRXWZKDWWKH\DUH interested in.” Bennett said the goal is to teach students the basics of landscaping and give them a background that could be useful in a multi- tude of career paths. “I think this is very ben- H¿FLDO´ KH VDLG ³7KH\ get the construction side of it and the landscaping. Students learn some skills that they will maybe be able to learn in the future. Maybe they don’t want to EH VLWWLQJ LQ DQ RI¿FH DQG want to be out doing more hands-on skills … It’s all about encouraging them to keep an eye open, get them to think about ‘What else can I do?’ What I’m try- ing to do is teach them life skills.” centers in the area to gener- ate ideas for the new facili- ty, and he has brought back pictures from others he has toured. After developing criteria for the location — near services, town center and parks, driving access, walkways, visibility and low noise — and the site — at least 1.5 acres, expand- ability and ease of con- struction — the committee evaluated and debated the merits of potential sites for several months before mak- ing its recommendation. “We want to be able to tell the council we’ve ex- hausted this discussion, and this is what came out of it,” Fetter said to the committee Tuesday before the vote. The committee said the large size, expansion SRWHQWLDO ÀDW ODQG HDV\ access, proximity to shop- ping and “park-like, natu- ral beauty” with the near- by canal as reasons for the choosing the site. The sec- ond preference was a site in downtown Hermiston on East Ridgeway Avenue and Northeast Second Street, and the third was the old Goodwill building on West Hermiston Avenue. Senior center board member and committee PHPEHU 9LUJLQLD %HHEH said she and many seniors she asked preferred the Aspen Site. “I think that’s where it should be because of the park-like setting we could make there and a relaxing atmosphere,” she said. Committee mem- ber Perry Hawkins, who served as the senior center liaison to the city during the grant application pro- cess, said he is happy the process is moving for- ward. “This has taken us a lit- tle bit of time to get to this point, but I want to make sure we don’t hastily get to where we really don’t want to be in the long term, but I myself really like the Aspen one,” he said. “To me, if we’re going to do it, let’s do it on good ground, clean ground and just put everything in and get this built.” AGRICULTURE: Sustaining Future Generations TATO N E-SM ITH R EAL ESTATE G R O U P LLC L inda Jo Tatone Sm ith Prin cipal Broker/O w n er (541) 384-4193 51748 R am sey C yn. PO B ox 576 C ondon, O R 97823 C ellu lar: (541) 378-7497 E m ail: lindatatonesm ith@ g m ail.com H om es, Fa rm s & Com m ercia l Bu sin ess INSURANCE PENDLETON GRAIN GROWERS, INC. You have a passion for your Farm or Ranch. We have a passion for protecting it. 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