FROM PAGE ONE
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
herMIsTOnheraLd.cOM • A11
FFA:
souri and she later became
the state FFA secretary. The
experience allowed her to
travel to Washington, D.C.,
for a national FFA gather-
ing, and she later returned
to the city for her career
and helped found an alumni
chapter of FFA there.
She said through the
alumni chapter she has had
fun connecting with FFA
students who visit Wash-
ington, D.C., for national
leadership
conferences.
Bray said even for students
who don’t go into agricul-
tural fields, FFA taught her
life skills. The organiza-
tion’s parliamentary proce-
dures element, for exam-
ple, teaches students how to
properly run a meeting.
“(As an adult) you can
tell who has had that kind of
experience and who hasn’t,”
she said. “It’s so beneficial
to have someone how knows
how to do that.”
Shandie Britt, the current
FFA advisor and agricultural
sciences teacher at Hermis-
ton High School, said if high
school students aren’t sure
if they might like FFA, she
would encourage them to
come to a meeting and see
what types of learning expe-
riences are available.
“FFA is a place for every-
one,” she said. “It offers an
opportunity for people to
find out who they are.”
of school, and that’s just not
OK,” she said.
She said some of her stu-
dents struggle with mental
health problems, and when
hybrid classes began last
week in Umatilla, it was
clear that staying at home
had made them more socially
awkward.
Hermiston School Dis-
trict Superintendent Tricia
Mooney attended the March
13 rally and spoke with
attendees.
“The reason kids show
up is because of the connec-
tion with others,” she said.
“That’s where we’re hurt-
ing the most is the connec-
tion with each other, with the
school, with the community.”
Like many people at the
rally, Mooney said that cur-
rent rules, requiring students
and employees to stay 6 feet
apart and only have contact
with small “cohorts” of peo-
ple at the school, are pre-
venting students from return-
ing to school full time.
“At this point, if there
isn’t a relaxing of the guid-
ance around the square foot-
age per-person in class-
rooms, and the cohort size,
we can’t go any further,” she
said. “It’s really those two
restrictions that are going to
keep us from having our stu-
dents back in classrooms.”
Last week, Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown announced in
a press conference that she
was ordering public schools
to reopen by mid-April.
That announcement, how-
ever, didn’t change plans for
Umatilla County school dis-
tricts like Pendleton, where
K-5 students had returned
to hybrid schooling (part
online, part in person) and
plans were already in place
to bring back middle and
high school students soon
thereafter. Most smaller dis-
tricts have already brought
back all grades.
Hermiston’s K-5 students
have already started hybrid
classes, and middle school-
ers and high schoolers will
soon join them in the com-
ing weeks. Mooney said the
school district has imple-
mented a variety of health
and safety protocols and
sanitation services that will
allow students to return to
classes safely.
“For all of our kids,
there’s a limit to how you
can interact on Zoom,” she
said. “The conversations
aren’t the same. The kids’
interactions aren’t the same.
The interactions with teach-
ers aren’t the same.”
With hybrid classes
beginning soon, and football
having started weeks ago,
Elijah Robinson, Garett’s
older brother, said he’s
enjoyed seeing his friends
again and is excited to see
more. However, with some
school still online, he’s still
worried about how things
will go.
“If the format’s the same
as online learning, it’s still
going to be pretty, overall,
just — you’re still gonna get
no help after class and what
not,” he said. “You get to
see your friends, but it’s not
close to what five days will
be like.
continued from Page a1
but I’ve made lifelong
friends,” she said.
She said even though
some members of the chap-
ter have been able to get
together to film presenta-
tions and a few things like
that, she does miss the past
experiences like late nights
together in hotel rooms at
competitions and early morn-
ing trips to Dutch Brothers.
Conner said she appre-
ciates the network she has
stepped into as an FFA
member, and loves meeting
former FFA students out
in the community who are
now very supportive of cur-
rent FFA members.
“They’ve been in our
shoes before and I know for
sure the people who have
been in this room before are
so passionate about FFA,”
she said. “They carry it with
them through their whole
lives.”
Shandie Britt/Contributed Photo
Hermiston FFA students gather for a meeting.
Connections after high
school
Kellie Bray, the chief of
staff for CropLife America,
is one of many former FFA
students who continues to
make connections because
of her FFA past. She and
her twin sister participated
in FFA growing up in Mis-
Rally:
continued from Page a1
However,
Dean
Sidelinger, Oregon’s epi-
demiologist, said the state
would only do so in a grad-
ual manner. Afterward, on
Monday, March 15, the Ore-
gon Department of Educa-
tion released updated guide-
lines that altered some rules,
but left the 6 foot one in
place for now.
“I
think
gradual
approaches are appropriate,”
said Josh Goller, board chair
for the Hermiston School
District. “But at the same
time, waiting until the fall to
get to a full day of school is
not appropriate.”
Federal officials in recent
weeks have urged schools
nationally to bring students
back to the classroom, cit-
ing statistics showing it is
safe to do so if health and
safety guidelines, such as
mask wearing and physi-
cal distancing, are consis-
tently maintained in both
Bryce Dole/Hermiston Herald
Parents, teachers and students stand along West Highland
Avenue outside of Hermiston High School with signs
encouraging the full return to in-person classes on Saturday,
March 13, 2021.
the school and the broader
community.
Goller said he believes
that, by maintaining health
and
safety
guidelines,
schools can be open on a big-
ger scale sooner rather than
later.
“Is there potential risk
involved? Perhaps,” Goller
said. “But a slightly-re-
duced physical distancing,
combined with masks and
cohorts that are perhaps a
little bit larger to facilitate
more student movement in
the building, those sorts of
things” can keep schools
safe.
Amy Robinson, a teacher
in Umatilla who is married
to Shane, said that several of
her students who take care
of their siblings are “failing
miserably.”
“We’re sending kids out
into the world who are miss-
ing a year to a year and a half
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