10A • June 24, 2016 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
McKirdy to retire
from Broadway
Middle School
Teacher brought
history to life for three
decades
By Katherine Lacaze
For Seaside Signal
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KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
Broadway Middle School
social studies teacher Kelly
McKirdy.
Another tradition he bor-
rowed from a Clatskanie
teacher and started at Broad-
way Middle School was the
grandparent report. Students
interviewed one of their
grandparents— or another
person two generations older,
if no grandparent was avail-
able — and write a report.
McKirdy said he is happy
to learn his replacement, Dan-
iel Floyd, agreed to keep that
project in the curriculum for
eighth-graders.
Exploring
new places
McKirdy also led a project
during which students select-
ed a state and gathered infor-
mation such as the state capi-
tal, population and when they
might want to visit. This year,
he “jazzed up” the project by
giving students the route he
intends to follow during a 22-
week road trip with his wife
that starts the day after classes
are over. The route includes
New England, Tennessee,
Georgia, California, Arizona
and many states in between.
The students created a slide
show with information about
each state, such as where
McKirdy can fi nd a state park,
national park, places to camp
in an RV and a theme park —
“because I love roller coasters
and theme parks,” he said.
“I think it helped add to
the excitement,” he said.
As for him, he has planned
this trip for about a year but
desired to do it his whole
life. McKirdy enjoys travel-
ing and, over the years, gave
students opportunities to take
history and culture-focused
trips to Europe, Costa Rica,
Australia and East Coast des-
tinations such as Washington,
D.C., New York, Boston,
Florida, Baltimore and Ken-
tucky. He usually led stu-
dents and adult chaperons or
parents on trips in June. Over
the years, McKirdy said, “It’s
been harder and harder to get
people who can afford the
trip,” which he believes is un-
fortunate because of how the
trips benefi ted students.
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What could students ex-
pect when they took a class
with Broadway Middle
School social studies teacher
Kelly McKirdy?
Mock elections, out-of-
state and overseas trips, in-
terviewing a grandparent and
learning strange facts, fi gures
and tidbits not often found in
conventional history books,
to name a few.
“I always try bringing in
things that are sort of differ-
ent,” said McKirdy, who is
retiring this month after 30
years at Broadway Middle
School. “I try to, if I can, re-
late it to something in their
life. Anything, even if it’s a
small thing, so they can make
a connection somehow.”
For instance, when teach-
ing local history, he shared
about the 1960s riots that oc-
curred in Seaside and were, in
fact, one of his fi rst introduc-
tions to the town.
McKirdy started his teach-
ing career straight out of col-
lege — where he majored in
political science — at Can-
yonville Christian Academy,
previously Canyonville Bible
Academy. He spent fi ve years
there, took a temporary job
in Brookings for a year and
then landed his job in Sea-
side. He said when he told
people where he was moving,
they often responded, “That’s
where they had the riots.”
Not to be deterred,
McKirdy still took the job
and incorporated information
about the incidents into his
curriculum for students.
Using old newspaper
clippings and images from
the Oregon Historical Soci-
ety, he put together a slide-
show and collages about
the riots, which involved “a
bunch of college kids go-
ing crazy, doing all sorts of
things,” McKirdy said. They
took place Labor Day week-
end and lasted three years,
before the U.S. National
Guard was dispatched to dis-
pel the problem.
McKirdy invited a former
policeman who served during
the riots to present for the stu-
dents.
“That was really fun to
hear what it was like,” he said.
Teaching students lit-
tle-known facts about his-
tory, or sharing with them a
different perspective or twist,
was one aspect of McKirdy’s
classes, which included sev-
enth-grade world history,
eighth-grade United States
history and multiple electives.
JEFF TER HAR/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
Crowds in Seaside enjoyed Muscle and Chrome Saturday.
Car show features hot new
cars along with classic iron
Kepler from Page 1A
The Kepler name, adopted by company founder Russ
Wicks, was inspired by astronomer Johannes Kepler.
Along with the Motion, which never left the fl oor of
the convention center, new performance cars were inter-
spersed between Malibus, Mustangs and vintage mus-
cle cars buffed and polished for show. Visitors enjoyed
sunny skies and mild temperatures as they strolled the
line-up in downtown Seaside, along Broadway and con-
necting side streets. The 4 p.m. downtown cruise brought
cars from Holladay via Broadway to the Turnaround,
then back to First Avenue and returning to Broadway.
“It’s going great, we couldn’t ask for better weath-
er,” car show committee chairman Keith Chandler said
at the Seaside Downtown Development Association’s
Broadway booth. Seaside’s Tsunami Skippers performed
jump rope and bands set up along Broadway. Judges
chose winners on the streets and placed a car indicating
that they are winners. The event celebrated show-quality
vehicles from 1960 to 1978 and factory performance ve-
hicles from 1979 to today.
“We’re seeing more performance cars, because there
are no car shows out there for them,” special events co-
ordinator Laurie Mespelt said.
The Kepler, however, remained in a class by itself.
“It’s worth between $3 million and $4 million,” Chan-
dler said. “It’s unique, the only type like it.”
JEFF TER HAR/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
Visitors came to Seaside Saturday for “Muscle and Chrome,” featur-
ing classic cars from throughout the decades.
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
One-hundred-thirteen cars were
displayed at the car show.
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Car show committee chair-
man Keith Chandler.