Roses for the Dental Clinic

By Ricardo Florez

In February the business leadership organization, Future Business Leaders (FBLA), organized a fundraiser at Cottage Grove High School with the goal of helping South Lane Children's Dental Clinic.  FBLA students at the high school knew that the clinic helped students throughout our school district and thought it would be a great cause to raise money to help.  The officer team of Daniel Hazen, Ezra Pointer, Kendall McClung, Kadie Todd-Durfee and Amanda Cook decided to use Valentines Day for their opportunity.

After scouring the Internet for possibilities, they came upon beautiful wooden roses.  The profit margin seemed great and the officers knew high school students would buy an inexpensive rose for their sweet heart.  The officers organized other FBLA members to sell roses before school, at lunch, after school as well as at basketball games and wrestling matches.  Through their diligence they were able to raise $400!  The fundraiser was a huge success and the students had a great time completing their fundraiser.  Already they are talking about growing this fundraiser to include the middle school next year.  Our goal for next year will be to raise $1000.

Thank you South Lane Children's Dental Clinic for helping our students in need!


"What's Right in South Lane School District . . ." is a district communication from the Superintendent's office that highlights great things that are happening throughout the district. If you have ideas to share with the district about the great things that are going on, please send your information in an e-mail to Julie at julie.depauw@slane.k12.or.us.

Praise for South Lane's ESL and Migrant Ed Services

By David Bascue

Bohemia Elementary recently had a visit from an ODE Educational Specialist who was conducting an audit of Lane County area ESL and Migrant Education services.  Participating in an audit probably isn't in anyone's top 10 list of fun activities, but the outcome of Bohemia's audit was very positive and garnered the school and these special programs some well-deserved recognition from the state.

The state auditor met with several staff members as well as students who receive ESL and Migrant services.  He articulated several points of commendation based on the information that he gathered.  He was particularly impressed with the responses of our students and their ability to explain the services they receive and how these services help them to be successful.  Students were able to provide specific information about what and how they are learning at Bohemia as well as information about Bohemia's culture and practices.  They talked about their plans to eventually go to college and pursue careers in fields such as engineering, education, medicine, and law enforcement.  When one of our 4th grade students was asked what he liked best about school this year, he responded, "I loved the algebra boot camp because I was having a hard time passing the algebra tests. After algebra boot camp, I could understand it a lot better and could pass the tests. I feel really proud of myself."

Kudos to the staff at Bohemia who provide the outstanding ESL and Migrant services that are a huge benefit to our students- Michele Hilton and Lucia Cervantes for providing fantastic instruction and support to students and families, Peggy Lintula and her staff at A Primary Connection for their ongoing support and education of families and Jackie Lester for the focus she has built school-wide to integrate ESL and migrant services into Bohemia's overall structure!

 "What's Right in South Lane School District . . ." is a district communication from the Superintendent's office that highlights great things that are happening throughout the district. If you have ideas to share with the district about the great things that are going on, please send your information in an e-mail to Julie at julie.depauw@slane.k12.or.us.

Summer Scholars in Pursuit of Happiness

Eight juniors, from Kennedy High School and CGHS, will join Kris Olsen at The Oregon Humanities Idea Lab Camp, July 26th-July 28th, on the University of Portland Campus.  Formerly known as "Happy Camp', Idea Lab provides juniors the opportunity to meet students from every corner of the state and to engage in activities, dialogue, and critical thinking anchored around the pursuit of happiness.

Kris Olsen is one of 24 Teaching Fellows working to plan the curriculum and activities for the camp.  Kris met with Teaching Fellows on April 27^th where she worked on creating a reader for participants and collaborated with the Creativity and Arts group. "I was drawn to Idea Lab for many reasons, number one being I wanted students from our district to have this opportunity."

What drew our summer scholars to this unique experience? Kyle Demmon and Sadie Wolford look forward to meeting new, like minded people while Shamia Heiser is drawn to "...fun on a college campus." 

"I'm the type of person to try new things," commented Sydney Schultz and Camas Rudicel asserts, "The people in my group are awesome and I know it will be great being with them."  Justin Hurst is full of ideas that revolve around pursuing happiness and Randy Beaty defines happiness as, "A simple life with family and friends."  It will be interesting to see how their ideas evolve as they participate in the camp.

"What's Right in South Lane School District . . ." is a district communication from the Superintendent's office that highlights great things that are happening throughout the district. If you have ideas to share with the district about the great things that are going on, please send your information in an e-mail to Julie at julie.depauw@slane.k12.or.us.

Staff Appreciation!

By Tim Rochholz

On May 8th, the South Lane District Service Center staff hosted its annual All Staff Appreciation Party in the Cottage Grove High School Cafetorium. The School Board, Administrative Assistants and Administrators armed with Hawaiian food and drinks helped with the "Aloha Staff Appreciation Luau" themed party. Lively conversations mixed with lots of laughter could be heard across the room as staff enjoyed a relaxing time together while each table created fruit and vegetable artwork.

Four staff members were recognized for their exceptional service to the district: Classified Employee of the Year - Darlene Smith the Baker at Cottage Grove School, Teacher of the Year - Dena Morosin 4^th Grade Teacher at Bohemia Elementary School, Oregon School Nurse of the Year Cindy Sustaire/Secondary Schools and Oregon 4A Athletic Director of the Year Dave Presley/Cottage Grove High School. President Marlene Culp of OSEA and Co - Presidents Teresa Myers and Deborah Buckman representing SLEA were recognized for their leadership. Superintendent Krista Parent honored these employees with flower baskets. Krista also presented gifts to retirees Kris Swain/Dorena, Eric Cullander, LaVonne Fuller and Darlene Smith/Cottage Grove High School, LeRoy Geyer Maintenance Department and Jim Hueske/Lincoln Middle School.

The Staff Appreciation Party was a wonderful time for staff to relax, get away from their work and get to know each other better. Special thanks goes to the DSC Administrative Assistants for putting on this wonderful event. 

"What's Right in South Lane School District . . ." is a district communication from the Superintendent's office that highlights great things that are happening throughout the district. If you have ideas to share with the district about the great things that are going on, please send your information in an e-mail to Julie at julie.depauw@slane.k12.or.us

Latham School Science Fair is a Huge Success!

By Kate Bowers
   

On May 2nd Latham School hosted a Science Fair.  All students at Latham were involved in conducting experiments.
We are so proud of our primary students.

The kindergartners did a class project entitled, "'Dem Bones, ‘Dem Bones".  They studied bone structure, function and eating a healthy diet.  First graders experimented with items that sink or float.  Their goal was to find the best design for a boat.  Each of them created a boat from clay, to test different designs.  Many of them also created boats from varying materials and with varying designs.  They wrote books to share what they found out.  In second grade, several quail eggs were watched carefully.  Many egg activities were conducted.  After much anticipation, one quail began to hatch. . .
    

Third, fourth and fifth graders were instructed on the scientific method as well, and given the challenge of doing their very own projects.  They worked diligently for ten weeks on their chosen experiment.  We are so proud of them!  Their projects showed ingenuity, creativity and most importantly - good scientific thinking.  Each project was unique and included topics in physical science, life science and consumer science, just to name a few.  Some top projects involved bird watching, pinewood derby cars and potatoes.  Way to go Latham students!
 

We would like to heartily thank those in our district, on the school board and in our community who came and judged each project:  Krista Parent, Alan Baas, Darin Hemenway, Paul Higgins, Dave and Judy Cunningham, Kyle Tucker, Tim Rochholz, Chad Hamilton, David Bascue, Tonya Kerns, Merlene Martin, Sherry Duerst-Higgens and Tammy Hodgkinson.
    

We've had so much fun; we plan on hosting another Science Fair next year!


"What's Right in South Lane School District . . ." is a district communication from the Superintendent's office that highlights great things that are happening throughout the district. If you have ideas to share with the district about the great things that are going on, please send your information in an e-mail to Julie at julie.depauw@slane.k12.or.us.

Three for Three at Lane County Brain Bowl

By Jean Miksch

For the third consecutive year, Lincoln Middle School has earned a trophy at the Lane County Middle School Brain Bowl, sponsored by the Youth Enrichment/TAG Program of the University of Oregon and Lane Education Service District. This year the team, made up of Megan Schneider, Emma Meyers, Jennifer McReynolds, Ian Miller, Tyler Demmon, Jasper Nichols-Ferguson, and Irene Nichols-Ferguson brought home a hard fought third place trophy, defeating 14 other teams from Lane County. The team is co coached by Jean Miksch and Cindy Sustaire.

"What's Right in South Lane School District . . ." is a district communication from the Superintendent's office that highlights great things that are happening throughout the district. If you have ideas to share with the district about the great things that are going on, please send your information in an e-mail to Julie at julie.depauw@slane.k12.or.us.

Cindy Sustaire Earns State Nurse Honor

By Tim Rochholz

 Congratulations to Cindy Sustaire who was chosen as Oregon School Nurse of the Year. Cindy has served as the school nurse for Cottage Grove High School and Lincoln Middle School for the past 13 years. She was presented her award at the OSNA Annual State Conference in Portland on April 18th.

Cindy is a shining example of a school nurse. On a daily basis she plans for students with acute health needs, writes health plans for staff who work with students monitors student's health status, teaches students and staff to perform health care tasks and develops health care policies for South Lane School District.

For her award Cindy was described as simply being an advocate to the fullest meaning of the word. When Cindy recognizes a child in need, she does not stop until those needs are met. If she hits a roadblock, she either goes through it or around it. She will drive to a student's home to pick them up for appointments and is very proactive about their care.

Cindy was one of the key leaders in the development and establishment of the South Lane Children's Dental Clinic.  With Cindy's leadership the community of Cottage Grove developed a clinic model that is sustainable and will serve children that currently do not have access to appropriate dental care.

Great job Cindy!

"What's Right in South Lane School District . . ." is a district communication from the Superintendent's office that highlights great things that are happening throughout the district. If you have ideas to share with the district about the great things that are going on, please send your information in an e-mail to Julie at julie.depauw@slane.k12.or.us