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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 2015)
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015 COMMUNITY • SPORTS Umatilla students stay active during summer By SEAN HART Staff Writer 6chool can be difficult for students whose fami lies move for agricultural work. 2ne student moved to the 8matilla 6chool Dis trict halfway through the first quarter of last school year and then moved back to Arizona for three months while his mother was working there. The student later returned to Umatilla and then left again, only to return for the last two weeks of the school year. To help students whose education has been inter rupted, the InterMoun tain (ducation 6ervice District provides sum mer school in Umatilla and Milton)reewater for migrant students whose families moved within the last three years for ag ricultural work. Umatilla 6chool Dis trict 6uperintendent +ei di 6ipe said 0 migrant students are enrolled in the summer program at McNary +eights (lemen tary 6chool. “6ummer school is an opportunity to ensure that, while parents are working, (students) are able to obtain some con sistent schooling through out the summer to hope fully make up those gaps in learning that can occur during frequent moves,” she said. McNary +eights (6/ teacher and summer school site administrator Nicole Taylor said the additional time in school is beneficial for migrant students, as is extra prac tice in English. “We do have a few monolingual kids here right now, and they are coming and they are do ing a great job,” she said. “They are getting ex posure to the language. They are getting an op portunity to continue with language programs they were working on during the school year to target their learning of English. It’s a great intervention.” The summer school program benefits other students as well. 6ipe said the district supplements the migrant program with Title I and st &entu ry &ommunity /earning &enter funds to allow all students in Umatilla to at tend for free. 2n average, 0 students have been attending the prekinder garten through eighth grade program at McNary +eights each day, while an additional 40 have been participating at the high school. OVAL: continued from Page A9 across and ramming the trail ers,” Nelson recalled. “We weren’t really hurting the vehicles, we were just de stroying trailers all over the place.” Although attendance is at a threeyear high, according to Tarr, it still has a ways to go, and Tarr and Nelson are hoping that the continuance of events such as +62’s Month of Destruction will continue to raise attendance numbers at one of the last lo cal bastions of auto racing in BUS: continued from Page A9 is it’s not very (dangerous). The average person doesn’t jump in a school bus and go ripping around a racetrack and crossing paths.” Nelson said interest for the ¿ rstever +ermiston bus race is almost deafening. +e said his phone has been busy with inquiries as far away as Yakima. A pair of buses with signage are parked in +erm iston to drum up interest, and Nelson is excited with the amount of interest he’s already received. +62 host ed exhibition bus races the past few weeks, which in cluded a bus tour that picked STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY <DPLOH[0DGULJDO$UPHQWD'DUO\QH0XQR]0HQGR]D DQG(ULND$JXLUUH/XQDHDWOXQFK:HGQHVGD\DW0F1DU\ +HLJKWV(OHPHQWDU\6FKRROLQ8PDWLOOD7KH6XPPHU )HHGLQJ3URJUDPSURYLGHVEUHDNIDVWOXQFKDQGGLQQHU IUHHWR\RXWKDJHGRQHWKURXJK$GXOWVFDQHDWIRURQH RUWZRGROODUVGHSHQGLQJRQWKHPHDO STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY .LGVFKHFNRXWWKHQHZERRNVWKH\UHFHLYHG:HGQHVGD\DW0F1DU\+HLJKWV(OHPHQWDU\6FKRROLQ 8PDWLOOD7KH&KLOGUHQ·V5HDGLQJ)RXQGDWLRQ5($'8SOLWHUDF\SURJUDPSURYLGHVIUHHERRNVHDFK ZHHNSDLGIRUZLWK5HDG\/HDUQJUDQWGROODUV Summer meals program growing in popularity By SEAN HART Staff Writer STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY -D\GHQ+DQVHQZULWHVGXULQJKLVWKLUGJUDGHVXPPHUVFKRROFODVV:HGQHVGD\DW0F1DU\+HLJKWV (OHPHQWDU\6FKRROLQ8PDWLOOD No child should have to go hungry, and a pro gram in Umatilla ensures children there are well fed. Through the school district’s summer feeding program, children ages to can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner for free each weekday. The meals are funded through the U.6. Depart ment of Agriculture 6ummer )ood 6ervice Pro gram and are growing in popularity. “It’s been a great year for all of the summer feeding programs,” 6uperintendent +eidi 6ipe said. “2ne of the things we find is that it con tinues to grow. As word spreads, more and more people attend.” 6ipe said an average of people eat break fast, 0 eat lunch and 0 eat dinner at the various sites. Adults can also partake in the meals for for breakfast and for lunch or dinner, she said. “)or the adults, that fee simply recoups our cost, so that we’re not misusing the funds,” she said. “We have to make sure that we’re only feed ing children for free, so we are very careful about that. It’s still a great way for families to get out, go for a walk, do an activity.” 6ipe said the meals also provide a social oppor tunity for families. McNary +eights attendance secretary Natasha Ugarte said many families are joining in. “My kids have dinner during dinner time, and it’s pretty successful,” she said. “)ull families come and eat, and I’ve noticed them intermingling with other families and talking about school. It’s actually pretty cool.” The meals are served at different times and locations Mondays through )ridays. Breakfast is served from a.m. at McNary +eights and from 00 a.m. at Umatilla +igh 6chool. /unch is served from 0 a.m. to 0 p.m. at McNary +eights, the high school and .iwanis Park near McNary Market. Dinner is served from 4 p.m. at McNary +eights. “We have different ways that we fund differ ent kids, but the key thing is that any kid can come,” 6ipe said. “They’re cov ering reading. They’re covering writing. They’re covering math. But they try to do it in a way that is pretty handson and very engaging.” 2n Tuesday, students who will be entering the third grade this fall were performing experiments on gummy bears to see how the different sub stances affected the can dy. Jayden Vela said he thought summer classes would be boring, but af ter attending, he enjoyed them. Pedro )igueroa said he is bored when he is not at summer school. The teachers try to make learning a fun expe rience, but Taylor said the education they impart is very beneficial. “The kids are having a good time, but they are definitely getting reading and math intervention, which is what they need so you don’t see a huge drop in their fluency,” she said. “2ne thing that people don’t realize about reading benchmarks is that they are actually ex pected to gain (proficien cy) over the summer with no instruction whatsoev er, and that’s just almost impossible.” 6tudents are expect ed to read 60 words per minute at the end of their firstgrade year, she said, but 0 words per minute by the beginning of sec ond grade. 6ipe said the district has also been giving away free books to encour age reading through The &hildren’s 5eading )oun dation 5EAD Up literacy program, which is funded by a 5eady /earn grant. 6he said children in third grade and younger have been given a new book each week to encourage reading at home. the region. “+ow do you get people away from the technolo gy and back in the grand stands?” Nelson asked. “That’s where the evolution of the sport has come in. It’s wild and crazy every 6atur day at +62. And that’s what we have to do.” “Pretty much me and Dan have talked about a whole bunch of different events that a lot of tracks just don’t do, and pushing the envelope of how crazy of an event you can have,” Tarr said. “We’re just really excited about the buses ... It should be really exciting for the fans.” ,QDQWLFLSDWLRQIRU+HUPLVWRQ·VÀUVWEXVUDFHDW+HUPLVWRQ6XSHU2YDODEXVWREHXVHG$XJVLWVLQIURQWRI'HVHUW/DQHV)DPLO\ )XQ&HQWHU up children from the grand stands, drove them around the track and pit area then dropped them off again. At least initially, it looks as if the heavy amount of Tri&ities advertising, mixed with exhibitions and special experiences at +62 have generated interest for the school bus races. ³The word’s out,” Nel son said. “We’re getting more positive reinforce ment.” The whole point of the bus race, Nelson said, is to generate a renewed inter est in auto racing and save +ermiston 6uper 2val from the fate of Tri&ities 5ace way, and the only way to do that is to use events like the EDUCATION STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY 7KLUGJUDGHWHDFKHU6DUD /LHEHKHOSV-D\GHQ+DQVHQ DQG5XEL0XQR]0HQGR]D GXULQJKHUVXPPHUVFKRRO FODVV:HGQHVGD\DW0F1DU\ +HLJKWV(OHPHQWDU\6FKRROLQ 8PDWLOOD A fresh batch of books was handed out Wednesday after the summer school session that ends at noon. )or the six students par ticipating in the science, technology, engineering and math academy, howev er, the educational oppor tunities continued into the afternoon. 6ipe said for the first time the district has been offering its 6TEM acad emy during the summer. )or 0 per day, she said the students have the op portunity to further their technical education by studying topics such as the moon and volcanoes. McNary +eights atten dance secretary Natasha Ugarte said the fee scares many people away, but it costs less than a babysit ter. “They pay a minimum of 0 per day (for child care),” she said. “We’re a lot cheaper, and they get educated.” 6ipe said students can still register and partici pate in the remainder of the 6TEM academy. )or more information, call McNary +eights, 4 660. STAFF PHOTO BY SAM BARBEE school bus race to put get people in seats. “I think it’ll be crazy because we’re running the school buses on the ¿ gure eight track,” Tarr said, “and the length of the school buses — they’re over 40 feet long so they’re equal so the length of four av eragesized cars. They’re gonna be in that intersec tion for so long, there’s a good chance that the fans will see an intersection col lision with the school bus es. And I’m sure they’ll go crazy.” Providing the Most Advanced Digital Hearing Technology A family run business for over 50 Years 541-276-3155 1-800-678-3155 29 SW Dorion Pendleton 236 E Newport Hermiston www.ruhearing.com