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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 2018)
August 17, 2018 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 3A ‘I could just be working during the summer, working at a restaurant down in Cannon Beach, but this is helping me get to where I want to be in the future.’ Rebecca Sprengeler, a recent Warrenton High School graduate who works on marketing and social media for the Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District MORE THAN JUST Clatsop Works intern Rebecca Sprengeler. A SUMMER JOB Clatsop Works connects students to workforce By Edward Stratton The Daily Astorian Rebecca Sprengeler felt bad not being able to take on shifts at her usual summer job at Pelican Brewing Co. in Cannon Beach, despite the need for help during the busy tourist season. But the recent Warrenton High School graduate received a job offer managing social media and helping to market the Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District in Seaside, more in line with her goal of becoming a graphic designer. “I could just be working during the summer, working at a restaurant down in Can- non Beach, but this is helping me get to where I want to be in the future,” Sprengeler said. Sprengeler is one of 16 stu- dents in Clatsop Works, a new summer internship program to give local students an intro- duction to the workforce. Interns from Astoria, Warrenton and Knappa high schools, along with Clatsop Community College, have taken up a wide variety of full-time jobs around the county with Sunset Empire, Bergerson Construction Inc., Englund Marine & Industrial Supply Co., Columbia Me- morial Hospital, Providence Seaside Hospital, Hampton EDWARD STRATTON PHOTOS Mike Ward, a sawmill, logyard and truck shop manager at Hampton Lumber’s Warrenton mill, shows Clatsop Works interns the area where fresh-cut lumber is stacked before being kiln-dried. Lumber, Ocean Crest Chevro- let Buick GMC, Lum’s Auto Center, the Haystack Rock Awareness Program, Martin North Hospitality and Ricken- bach Construction Inc. Students spend each Wednesday in profession- al development workshops learning customer service, safety, communication and other skills. Local school districts and the college provided funding for the internship program’s coordinator, Anna Stamper, who led students through the process of applying and inter- viewing for jobs. “It’s very real-world,” Stamper said. “The students negotiate their pay rate.” One early entrant was Hampton Lumber, which last year took on two local high schoolers as part of a pilot program. Cliff Tuttle, who oversees special projects for Hampton Lumber, said he’d spoken with Craig Hoppes, superintendent of Astoria schools, about how to get kids more engaged in school and ready for the workforce. Hampton Lumber has also helped expand career-tech- nical courses at Astoria High School. “Everywhere, Hampton tries to take on interns,” he said. “It was a natural fit. We were surprised by the num- ber of kids who did not know about the opportunities” local- ly. Hampton employs more than 140 people, with an av- erage wage of above $22 an hour. The mill interviewed several candidates and set- tled on Will Berezay, a senior at Astoria High School who started late last month work- ing 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. shifts on the mill’s cleanup crew, where most employees get their start. “I knew I would be shov- eling sawdust,” Berezay said. “I wasn’t expecting much. I was just ready to get my hands dirty.” Mentoring Berezay is Jama Evans, who after decades in day care took a job on the mill’s cleanup and planing crews. Evans teaches Berezay proper work and safety habits at the mill, a maze of wood, metal, concrete and heavy ma- chinery. The two make visits to Hampton Lumber’s export docks, corporate offices and tree farms, learning all aspects of the business from trees to lumber. Skyler Archibald, execu- tive director of Sunset Em- pire, said the agency created a marketing position just for Sprengeler, who has experi- ence in graphic design and photography, and to bolster the recreation district’s public presence. Sprengeler receives relative autonomy to cover the district’s programs and create a newsletter, and will also help design a new website. “She’s a member of our management team,” Archibald said. “She sits in when we’re discussing policies. It’s just holding her to a standard we hold all our employees to, about punctuality and re- sponsibility and those sorts of things.” Employers agree that the internship program isn’t about finding a pool of new employ- ees so much as exposing the area’s youth to local opportu- nities and how to be a good employee. A native of Seaside, Ar- chibald said he hadn’t desired coming back to the area be- cause low wages, a high cost of living and the seasonal na- ture of business made living locally a challenge. But the re- gion has developed new career opportunities with education, health care and local govern- ment he wanted to share with young people. Stamper had about five weeks to arrange the work sites for students. With more time next year, she hopes to expand the pool of govern- ment, education, fisheries, manufacturing and other ma- jor local industries taking part. “Some of the business- es could afford it, but they couldn’t dedicate a mentor,” Stamper said. “They need to have the ability to do the train- ing and put them into a posi- tion they can learn and grow from.” She is also looking for more funding sources to help low-income students take part. Kevin Leahy, the direc- tor of Clatsop Economic De- velopment Resources, who oversees Stamper, said the goal is to expand the intern- ship program next summer to 24 students. Similar intern- ship programs in Washington County have more than 100 participants. The Northwest Regional Education Service District, which oversees a hub focused on expanding career-techni- cal learning opportunities, is also looking to export Clatsop Works’ model to Columbia and Tillamook counties in the next couple of years, Stamper said. “To have this momentum in our first year is really prom- ising,” Leahy said. OBITUARIES Wilma Jane Fague Nelson Emerald Isle, North Carolina Dec. 8, 1938 — Aug. 2, 2018 Wilma Jane Fague Nelson, 79, of Emerald Wilma was preceded in death by her par- Isle, died Aug. 2, 2018, at Carteret Memorial ents, husband, and brother, Richard Allen Hospital in Morehead City, North Carolina, Fague. She is survived by three daughters, surrounded by her loving family. Denice Nelson Keeter of Raleigh, Deborah Wilma was born Dec. 8, 1938, Jane Nelson of Emerald Isle and to the late William James and Dor- Katie Nelson Locke of Enfield; one othy Ann Dow Fague in Portland, son, Ralph William Nelson of Ra- leigh; two granddaughters, Addie Oregon. She graduated from Sea- side High in 1956, where she met Dow Keeter and Katherine Harrison her husband, Donald Albert Nelson. Keeter, both of Raleigh; two grand- sons, John Richard Locke Jr. and his They were married and moved to wife, Pamela, of North Carolina, first landing in En- field, and eventually making their Enfield and William Nelson home by the sea in Emerald Isle. Locke of Red Oak; one adored Wilma was feisty and fully in great-grandson, Landyn Nelson charge. After her husband died, she Wilma Nelson Locke; and one sister, Patricia Ann held court from her home on the Fague Robison of Rogers, Arkansas. Point in Emerald Isle, where she kept A reception and celebration of everyone in line, including the Army Corps life were held Aug. 7 at the Historic Episcopal of Engineers, Coastal Area Management Act Church of the Advent in Enfield. Burial took (CAMA), the U.S. Coast Guard and the Emer- place at Elmwood Cemetery. ald Isle Police Department. She was a mother Memorial donations may be made directly figure, as well, to various kayakers, boaters, to the Historic Episcopal Church of the Ad- kiteboarders, paddleboarders and hordes of vent, in care of Dr. Elton Newbern, treasur- er, 4894 Thirteen Bridges Road, Enfield, NC adoring friends, neighbors and children. She was an excellent hostess, cook, artist 27823 or online at bit.ly/WFNelson and shell collector. She was funny, kind and Letchworth-Sykes Funeral Service is han- generous, but possessed a wicked wit. For all dling the arrangements for the Nelson family. these gifts, and for many others, she will be Online condolences may be directed to the family at www.garrettsykesfs.com sorely missed but never forgotten. Newly hatched pipefish at Seaside Aquarium Seaside Signal SEASIDE AQUARIUM Pipefish at the Seaside Aquarium. The Seaside Aquarium’s pipefish are having babies. This relative of the seahorse passes eggs from the female to the male, who carries them in a specialized pouch until they hatch, reported Tiffany Boothe of the aquarium. They are very small only about 1/2 in length and only as thick as a single strand of hair. The pipefish have found a home at the aquarium for a little more than a year and a half, Boothe said. They are a local fish that lives in the region’s estuaries, found most places where eel grass is plentiful. Each pipefish had about 30 babies, she said. “All in total we are attempting to raise 61 newly hatched pipefish.” The biggest hurdle when raising these small fish is a good food source, she added. “We will do plankton tows daily and supplement with a special type of brine shrimp.” If there were a vaccine against cancer, wouldn’t you get it for your kids? er nt m m ve Su gs E vin Sa s es les Seri d r e r o tu e C na g Fre ect Si on l se Call now for your free In-Home Consultation! 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