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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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when it is completed at the
end of the year.
“I’m excited to see it all
come together,” she said.
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“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
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going to be able to see it
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“With this millennials gen-
eration, maybe some of
them will want to become
gardeners. This might help
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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-
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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
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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.”
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