The INDEPENDENT, April 2, 2009
The Scarlet Pimpernel coming to town
Page 11
Chalk Talk
Chalk Talk is a monthly column of information
about Vernonia schools. It is written by vari-
ous staff members. This column was provid-
ed by Superintendent Dr. Ken Cox.
Noah Monnin, Benedicta Hardy, Elinore Hardy, Anthony Pelster, Levi Monnin and Boaz Hardy,
practice for the upcoming play. Photo courtesy of Carol Pelster.
Vernonia
homeschooling
students are having a good
time practicing for some up-
coming drama performances.
The younger group will enact
Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves, one of Grimm’s fa-
mous fairy tales. The beloved
story tells how a sweet and
beautiful princess wins the love
of all around her, except her
evil stepmother. Happily, love
triumphs over hate for a most
satisfying ending.
The older students are work-
ing on a challenging play, “The
Scarlet Pimpernel,” which is set
during the bloody reign of terror
of the French Revolution. The
brave and mysterious hero at-
tempts to rescue innocent aris-
tocrats from the guillotine, while
a beautiful French actress
struggles to find where her loy-
alty lies.
Everyone is invited to see
the plays on April 23 and 24 at
7:00 p.m. at the Vernonia
Grange. Both of the short plays
will be performed each night,
for a most entertaining evening.
There is no admission charge,
though donations will be grate-
fully accepted.
Oregon’s 150 Youth Legacy Project, continued
From page 10
Lab technology to present their
ideas and priorities and to iden-
tify the best thinking of their
peers.
“This is a great way for stu-
dents to demonstrate that they
VHS Internat’l
Club fundraiser
There will be a Vernonia
High School International Club
carwash fundraiser on April 10
from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m. and April
11 from 11:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Both dates are weather permit-
ting.
This is a fundraiser for stu-
dents to go to the foreign lan-
guage and international stud-
ies day in Eugene.
For more information, call
Donna Webb at 503-429-5201.
are not just young people still
learning. Rather, that they are a
powerful force, a generation of
people who want to help re-
shape politics and policy to
make Oregon a safer, sustain-
able, and more livable place,”
says Henry Balensifer, who is
the youngest member of the
Oregon 150 Board and Chair of
its Youth Legacy Projects.
Please visit: http://democra
cylab.project2059.org/ for more
information.
At their last meeting, the Vernonia School Board authorized
me to begin working with BOORA Architects of Portland to de-
sign our new schools. I met with them last week and began de-
veloping a rigorous schedule of weekly meetings to help them
understand our needs as a school and as a community.
I am excited, as are they, by the opportunity to work togeth-
er to design a school that will meet our needs and be an inte-
gral part of the community. The facility will be designed to last
at least 100 years and we will look for ways to incorporate flex-
ible uses for both the school and the community. We will be
carefully balancing the initial cost of construction with ongoing
maintenance and long term operating costs in order to make
this project the best possible investment for our community. To
this end, we will be examining every avenue of sustainability
and functionality that will help our schools stand out as an ex-
ample of Oregon ingenuity, as well as represent Vernonia’s re-
silience, perseverance, and commitment to the future.
We would invite you to participate in the upcoming meetings
with BOORA and members of the district. We will be establish-
ing a Facilities Steering Committee that will work closely with
the architects to coordinate the gathering of information
throughout the design process. All members of the existing
District Facilities Committee will be included as we move
through this process over the next few months. Members of
the public are also invited to attend the different meetings. We
hope to have a schedule of meetings available at the district
office by the time you read this article.
On another note, in order to help keep all patrons of the dis-
trict informed, we have been sending out Update Newsletters
about once a month as a bulk mailing. If you have not received
a District Update Newsletter on yellow paper in the mail,
please let us know. We will make sure you get a copy and do
our best to figure out why you didn’t get one, so you can re-
ceive future issues.
Don’t forget to share your thoughts with us by calling, email-
ing, or leaving your opinion on the blog on the district website.
We want to hear from you! Your voice can help shape the
future of Vernonia, please let it be heard!
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