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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 2019)
FROM A1 A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM SCHOOL Continued from Page A1 for having the highest partic- ipation in the run, which was also a school supplies drive. Monday morning also marked the start of a year of bus riding for many Hermis- ton students, including Herm- iston third-grader Neely Fos- ter, who just couldn’t wait to hop aboard. Foster, 8, joined many of her peers on the way to West Park Elementary on Mon- day morning, the start of the school year for the Hermiston School District. “I love riding the bus,” said Foster, who was priming for her second year of riding. She said she prefers to sit in either the front or the back, and was ready to get to school so she could show off her donut-themed lunchbox and backpack. As the bus pulled up to her block, Foster and two of her friends ceased all conversa- tion to dash across the street, bustling with energy on an otherwise dead morning. According to Stefani Wyant, principal at Rocky Heights Elementary, the bus provides an entirely separate ecosystem from the class- room, complete with its own set of challenges. “One of the biggest things on the bus is that there is one adult, and that adult is driv- ing. Students sometimes tend to know that they are unsu- pervised,” Wyant said. She said that at Rocky Heights, teachers have con- versations with students about how to ride the bus properly. “It’s an opportunity to be kind, include everybody and notice each student,” Wyant said. Things can get sticky when a parent fails to reregis- ter their child for the coming school year. If a child’s regis- tration is not up to date, their bus route may not be made clear to the bus driver, Wyant said. Mid Columbia Bus Com- pany — which contracts with the Hermiston School District — runs 28 routes in Hermis- ton, with buses holding any- where from 15 to 84 students. Christie Sutherland, the manager for the company’s Hermiston offi ce, has just stepped into her new position this month. She said the fi rst day of school was a smooth ride for bus drivers. She noted that when a child isn’t registered with the school and doesn’t know if they’re on the correct bus, the bus driver will fi rst con- tact the “bus barn” to see if their address is on fi le with the company. If the company doesn’t have the child’s address, the bus driver will radio the school to assure the child arrives home safely, whether that means getting dropped off at a stop or heading back to the school for a different bus or parent pickup. “It can be a process some- times,” Sutherland said. “But we always fi gure it out.” Chuck Moore, vice-pres- ident at Mid Columbia Bus Company, said that during the fi rst week of school, bus routes often run a little slower. “We don’t mind,” he said. “We don’t want anyone to get hurt.” He said they are off to a good start this year, as the company is seeing a lot of employee retention from last year. “We love having folks come back with us. Most of our drivers take the same route each year. They know their students and their loca- tions,” Moore said. As parents and students alike gear up for the school year, Moore said there’s one thing that sticks in his mind — safety. He said students should refrain from running after the bus, and to wait until the bus is at a full stop before hopping aboard. He also said that drivers need to remember to stop traf- fi c in either direction when a school bus has its stop sign out. “We don’t want any motor- ing public to pass when stu- dents are getting on that bus,” Moore said. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2019 FRIENDS Continued from Page A1 The two men, both 34, grew up in Lake Oswego. They played mid- dle school basketball on the same team. In high school, they started Laker Broadcasting at Lake Oswego High School, broadcasting foot- ball and basketball games. They enrolled in University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Com- munications with Strong studying electronic media and Olson headed toward a career in print journalism, preferably with the San Francisco Chronicle. “My dream was to be the beat writer for the San Francisco Giants,” Olson said. Strong, however, pressed him to do various broadcasting gigs with him and Olson good-naturedly helped him out. Normally, Strong did play-by-play and Olson pro- vided color. As sophomores and juniors, they announced the Univer- sity of Oregon softball games for the campus radio station. For that job, Olson was asked for a demo. “I downloaded a 1989 San Fran- cisco Giants/Chicago Cubs game from the computer,” Olson recalled. “I muted it and did the play-by-play. My fi rst baseball demo is a game from when I was 4 years old.” They interviewed athletes during a weekly half-hour show called “Quack Smack” and did various live-streaming UO sports broad- casts. The OSAA hired them to announce a state soccer champion- ship and other games. For Olson, it was all something of a lark. “I was kind of along for the ride,” he said. “I took it seriously because John took it seriously. I was just hanging out with John.” Olson did some solo work, how- ever. He was the public address voice at UO women’s volleyball games and news director at the cam- pus radio station. By his senior year, he wholly embraced the idea of a career in broadcasting. After gradu- ation, he accepted a job with sister radio stations KOHU and KQFM in Hermiston to broadcast sports and news. He caught some attention with his smooth and story-telling style. In 2013, Olson was named Oregon Association of Broadcasters Radio Sports Announcer of the Year. Strong got on an even faster track. He was the fi rst radio and television voice for the Portland Timbers and he later worked for both NBC and Photo courtesy of John Strong FOX Sports soccer broadcaster John Strong got his start doing play by play at Lake Oswego High School with his friend Erick Olson. FOX. Olson watched his friend rise with awe. “By his mid-20s, he was a national television broadcaster,” Olson said. “It was a really fast trajectory.” Olson’s fi rst foray into the world of national broadcasting came in 2015 when Strong reached out to Olson to ask if he would be his sta- tistics and research assistant for three weeks of women’s World Cup games in Canada that summer. “My reaction was ‘Yes,’ now how do I make it happen?” Olson said. The radio station gave Olson the green light, though he contin- ued to do news segments from hotel rooms and airports. In between soc- cer games, Olson researched play- ers and teams and assembled notes for the World Cup games. In the booth, he supplied stats and inter- esting tidbits for Strong to use in his play-by-play. “I had a dry erase board about the size of a piece of paper,” he said. “I wrote notes or used hand signals to pass along statistics and updates as the games progressed.” When he learned of an impending substitution, he alerted a Los Ange- les producer, so graphics could be prepared. Last summer brought men’s World Cup action in Russia. The FOX team included Olson, Strong, Strong’s broadcast partner Stu Holden, producer Shaw Brown and two Russian security guards. The broadcasters announced 16 of 64 games, including the fi nal match between France and Croatia in Mos- cow’s Luzhniki Stadium. Between games, the team found food, fl ew to another city, tried to sleep on the plane and started all over again. The string of games and constant travel was challenging — even more than the 2007 Oregon state 1A bas- ketball tourney in Baker in which Olson announced 20 games in four days despite having strep throat. “Three of the matches we called at the World Cup, we had not slept at all the night before,” Strong said. “It was a 24-hour adrenaline high. After each game, you recalibrate and pack your bag. You just go.” Olson noted that the older air- planes in which they fl ew didn’t inspire trust. “Each time you land, everyone claps,” he said. Strong said the team worked well together. “When I have Erick on my left, Stu on my right and Shaw in my ear, I’m fearless,” Strong said. He called Olson his “information sherpa” who has broadcasting expe- rience of his own. “Erick knows me so well, he anticipates what I want and need to know,” Strong said. “It becomes a symbiosis thing.” An added bonus for Olson is an Emmy Award FOX Sports received for its 2018 World Cup coverage in the Outstanding Trans-Media Sports Coverage category. He is listed with some 70 other people, but it gives him a thrill all the same. Olson said he is enjoying the ride, just like he did with Strong back in the day when he was “hanging out with John.” FREE Colorectal Screening Kits Available September 9th Colorectal cancer, the 2nd leading cause of cancer death, can be detected early through screenings such as a colonoscopy or a Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT). LEASE AN ALL NEW 2019 Gas only. Hybrid models slightly higher. LE Adventure AWD $ 0 $ 239 mo. 36 mos. AWD Security $ 2,899 Deposit Due at Signing $ 2,899 $ 0 Security $ 299 mo. Deposit Due at Signing 36 mos. 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