by KAREN STEELE
May 17th, 2016 will be marked down as one of celebration for Umatilla County, especially for Milton-Freewater. A hundred or so eager citizens gathered in the community building to hear the results of the bond, anxiously munching on popcorn and clutching onto their root beer floats. At exactly 8:05 pm, Superintendent Rob Clark made a phone call to receive the results.
Before the official numbers were announced, Randy Grant, leader of the Milton-Freewater Downtown Alliance, gave a short speech, talking about how excited he was to see this town flourish, before introducing Karen Shelton, a seventh-grade science teacher at Central Middle School. She was the campaign advisor, and she looked out at the crowd with excitement and pride. Shelton named the individuals who had helped her along the way, and the attendees clapped for them in equal appreciation. After a few minutes, she stepped to the side and let Dr. Clark take the stage. He wasted no time getting to the point - saying that this bond could be “the best thing to happen to this town.” As he was pulling his phone out of his inside jacket pocket, he paused when a scream of delight came from Shelton. The unofficial results had been posted online: just under 80% of Milton-Freewater citizens voted yes for the school bond.
Milton-Freewater will be getting a new school. The final numbers are that 78.71 percent of the votes said yes after Tuesday’s ballot count, with 2,044 votes for and 553 against. As soon as the words were out of Dr. Clark’s mouth, the community building literally erupted with cheers and applause, to an almost-deafening level, but I didn’t mind. Despite the fact that I won’t be able to benefit from the upgrades to Central and Mac-Hi and the building of the new elementary school, I am more that excited for the future Pioneers who will. My younger brother will get to learn in better air conditioned classrooms! “Most importantly,” said Doug Hendricks, “we’ll be getting a new bus lot! So thank you for that, Milton-Freewater!”
“Bond issues don’t get 70 plus percent,” Dr. Clark said, “Bonds are 20 years and they don’t usually get that support. Even people who have historically voted no forever in Milton-Freewater said, ‘OK, we have to vote for this one.’”
The construction of Olinger Elementary will cost around roughly $23.5 million, and the rest of the money will go to upgrades and the sports complex that will replace Grove Elementary School. The bond passage qualifies the district for a grant from the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation for $15 million and a state education grant of $4 million. Clark mentioned that the demolition of the old cannery could take place as early as this fall, and construction is hoping to start in the summer of 2017. That’s only one year away!
At Echo, the $8 million from their bond will help to pay for an expansion, including three more classrooms, a school library, a second gym that is air conditioned, dedicated science labs, wood and metal shops, art rooms, and agriculture rooms, along with security cameras and a key-card system. “To vote yes is to take a stand against the waves of violence that have been crashing into one American school after another,” says Weston-McEwen student Michael Shafer, son of John Shafer, the mayor of Athena, Oregon. His letter to the editor on the local bond was published on the East Oregonian website May 6th, and he explained the seriousness of the school shootings that we’ve been facing (if you hop onto our website, you can see the link to the page). The TigerScots will also receive new heating, lights, buses, roofing, and more.
“Be ready to see Gib Olinger Elementary open their doors September 1st, 2018!” Dr. Clark closed.
Showing posts with label karen steele. Show all posts
Showing posts with label karen steele. Show all posts
April 20, 2016
Tennis Rivalries Heat Up This Spring
by KAREN STEELE
This April has been a busy month for the Pioneer Tennis team, with the record having four matches in a four school-day long week. Despite this, the teams have prepared over the last two months of conditioning and are getting their swings back into shape. With the guidance of Biology-and-Art teacher Michelle Snyder and former player Danny Sanchez as their coaches, the singles and doubles teams are armed and ready to ace their biggest competitors.
Each individual team (be it one person or a team of two) has their own rival, someone from another school who they’ve played against for years and whose skill has always matched their own. Sometimes the rivalries are inside of Mac Hi’s home courts, like Rigo Ponce, a senior, and Deazen Zerba. Zerba is Coach Sanchez’s stepson and a sophomore, and the two of them are constantly fighting to stay in the number-one singles’ slot. Although Ponce is armed to the teeth with years of experience, Zerba slaved away all summer at the country club practicing his serve.
Among the other ace seniors is Elise Griffith, one of the most dedicated athletes on the team, participating in cross country and track. Griffith practices hard every day to trump Umatilla’s number-one singles player, Sidney Webb.
According to some other people (*coughcough* Lieuallen *winkwink*), tennis is not a “real” sport, but many disagree, including players on this state-winning team. Among these believers is Sandra Pereyda, a senior at McLoughlin and a third-year tennis player. She believes that tennis can be a great stress reliever. “I love tennis,” states Pereyda. “I especially love it when you almost hit the other opponent with the ball, although not too hard.” She continued, “I love Snyder as a coach. She’s amazing, she’s understandable, and I think that she’s one of the best people in the school.” As not to be exclusive, Sandra added, “Coach Danny is pretty rad as well. He can be scary, but a good scary.”
The team has been busy, traveling everywhere from Stanfield to Umatilla, or just a hop-skip and a jump to the brand new College Place High School, where the Pioneers performed wonderfully and patiently against the brand-new team. Next year, College Place’s coach promised their players will have more experience and be more prepared after getting their first taste of playing against another team.
Snyder, who started on as an assistant coach in 1998, is excited and looking forward to the results of this year’s tennis season.
February 22, 2016
#YOUNGMAN ON ELLEN
by KAREN STEELE
It’s everywhere on Twitter, Facebook, and even Instagram. If you follow anyone who lives in Eastern Oregon, you’ve probably seen it:
#YoungmanOnEllen
The beloved Spanish teacher at Pendleton High School, Kathryn Youngman, is currently fighting breast cancer for the third time, and she is receiving chemotherapy treatments twice a week. She is loved by her students for her fast-paced teaching style and for teaching her students more than just Spanish. Said student Charla Simons, “We learned about kindness and persistence… and life in general.” Not only did her passionate pupils start the trend “#YoungmanOnEllen” in an attempt to get the attention of hero Ellen DeGeneres, they started wearing pink.
Cars can be seen covered in pink streamers, paint, and sometimes even balloons at the high school’s campus. Even students at Pendleton’s rival school, Hermiston, have worn pink shirts and tights during their most recent basketball games. During an event at Happy Canyon, most of the 300 or so attendees had stopped by the local Big John’s Pizza, where $10 of each family-style pizza sold went directly to Youngman to pay for a plane ticket to California for the Ellen Degeneres show. Recently, our own McLoughlin High School encouraged attendees to wear the color pink during a basketball game, as did Weston-McEwen High School.
Señora Youngman has been a fan of DeGeneres’s comedy and wit for almost all of Ellen’s career. It’s been a longtime dream of Youngman to be able to watch one of the shows in person, and, because time seems to be running short, her students took action, tweeting #BeKindToOneAnother, one of Ellen’s favorite catchphrases that she ends every show with. And Ellen has noticed.
At around 2 p.m. on Thursday, February ???, executive producer Ed Glavin tweeted, “So everyone who’s tweeting knows, we are aware of #YoungmanOnEllen and we are in touch. Thanks. @TheEllenShow.” On February 16th, it was announced by Pendleton High School’s faculty that their teacher was on a plane to L.A. as of this morning. The show was taped on the next Thursday, the episode airing on the following Monday. Regarding the opportunity to be in the audience, we can only guess how ecstatic she must be feeling, although she’s not allowed to reveal much. As always, she has been giving this back to her students.
“Teenagers are amazing,” Youngman said in an interview with the Eastern Oregonian. “They took an idea. They took their compassion and their energy and started a movement.” Beautifully put, Señora.
COURTESY PHOTO BY PENDLETON HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK CLASS
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS OF THE EASTERN OREGONIAN OF YOUNGMAN AT AN ASSEMBLY AT PHS
January 26, 2016
Interview with Caande
by KAREN STEELE
Candelaria Maguregui is a foreign exchange student. Becky Hammill, one of our writers, interviewed her in the beginning of the year, and we took this opprotunity to catch up with her towards the end of first semester. In this first installment of our video interviews, Caande touches on sprinting in track, staying with her host family - the Harmons, what it's like being away from home, and her expectations of America. She also talks about the Oregon weather, American food (cookies!), skiiing for the first time, and why she wanted to visit the USA.
Transcript available:
January 20, 2016
Who Said It? - Camille Riley or Jessica Day
by KAREN STEELE
Camille Riley is a Junior at McLoughlin High School, and she sometimes (a lot of times) reminds me of Jessica Day, the spunky, titular character from "New Girl." After recording things that Cami says for a week, I made up this quiz, mostly for my own amusement.
Enjoy!January 11, 2016
The Lady Pioneers Continue Making Baskets
by KAREN STEELE
Brooke Garton is taking over the position of head coach for the Lady Pioneers Basketball team. As a 4A team in the Greater Oregon League, the Varsity Team’s overall record is 8-5, and are ranked #18 in the OSAA. Among this year’s returning seniors are Shannon Carter, Kitanya Crisman, Kylee Fite, Jenny Field, Brittney Erb, Samantha Tveidt, and Abi Biggs. The next home games are:
- 01/23 at 3pm against Baker
- 01/26 at 6pm against Athena
- 01/30 at 3pm against Ontario, and
- 02/08 at 6pm against La Grande.
December 16, 2015
Mental Health Stigmas - The Harms and Healings
by KAREN STEELE
Depression. You probably know someone with it or even suffer from it yourself. However, it’s something that we rarely talk about.
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 350 million people are affected by depression, which turns out to be 0.05% of the whole world. Although the percentage makes it seem small, 350 million people is a lot of people – about the same amount if you were to add all of the citizens of the United States and Canada together. It’s easy to dismiss depression, anxiety, or a combination of the two, even though it’s far more common than you would think - one in three college students are self-diagnosed with some sort of depression, and it’s more prevalent in minorities or multiracial individuals than in blacks and Hispanics, and even less in whites, says Healthline.
When someone breaks their leg, you don’t tell them to run a mile during PE anyway, but if a person has social anxiety disorder (SAD), they are often forced to speak in public regardless. Just like a physical injury, the limitations of mental diseases are very real and should be realized and respected. In the same way that your mom might make you stay home from school if you have a fever, I believe that someone on the verge of a panic attack should be able to call in a sick day. Having to fake a physical illness to avoid a depressive day at school is a sadly common practice. However, learning the differences between what’s true and what isn’t are not hard to learn. Indefinite amounts of resources are available on the Internet, and I gleaned information from websites and personal experiences to find myths that are told about depression.
Many stereotypes about the effects of depression-anxiety simply are not true.
Myth I. Just because someone appears “happy” doesn’t mean that they aren’t depressed.
Depression hides itself in many forms and is great at using disguises. It grows inside. When Robin Williams committed suicide, many people went on Facebook saying, “How could someone so happy do this?” Most often when someone exhibits “smiling depression,” says Psychology Today, they’re using humor and liveliness as a defense mechanism.
Myth II. Depression is contagious.
It’s not. In fact, talking about it often helps those suffering. Although I didn’t like talking to a psychologist, talking to my mom about how depression affected me and trying to explain my feelings helped me understand what was going on with me. I dream of a society where talking about your mental illnesses (e. g. “I’m bipolar, man, it sucks.” “I bet. I hate being looked at weird because I have Tourettes.”) are not taboo and can be openly discussed like other topics (“Dude, I broke my wrist. I only cried once, though.”) and can be approached in a casual setting.
Myth III. It isn’t real.
I don’t know how to respond to this statement besides wanting to holler, YES, IT IS. Because depression varies between lasting a few days or months (or years), or just during pregnancy recover, doesn’t mean that one form is more legitimate than the other, or that depression in general is a made up excuse. As a sufferer of both, I can say that dealing with anxiety can be frustrating, whether it be trying to tell a friend “Just order your hamburger!” or telling yourself it’s okay to get up to go to the garbage can. It feels like a war. Anxiety makes me feel like I’m fighting my brain, thinking everyone is making fun of me, regardless of who they are or what they’re talking about. The question I have for those who say that depression and anxiety “aren’t real” is why would we want to pretend to be afflicted by these? If you wouldn’t ask to be diagnosed with cancer, then you wouldn’t want to deal with depression.
Myth IV. We are not broken.
A person suffering from depression, anxiety, or both is not a person who is “damaged goods,” to quote Taylor Swift during one of her concerts at the Staples Center. “You are not going nowhere just because you haven’t gotten where you want to go yet.” We are not defective, nor are we weak for having mental illnesses; nor are we giving up when we admit that we need help, by seeking medication, counseling, or even friendships. Hearing and reading that we are “broken” traps depressives inside stereotypes and stigmas and makes it harder for us to own our condition and makes it easier to isolate ourselves. Telling us that we “don’t seem depressed,” we’re faking it, or that it isn’t real is doing two things: 1) letting us know that we shouldn’t come to you for help, and 2) you don’t want to help.
There are a lot of things that I could go on to explain (how to cope, self-diagnose, where to seek help, how to help a depressed friend), but I feel that most of these have already been touched on. Try applying depression and anxiety to other real world scenarios, like, asking a friend who’s on crutches how you can help, like carrying their books, or putting yourself in their shoes (e.g. “What if I was terrified of saying ‘here” during attendance?”), and you might learn how to be a better friend. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, whether you’re confused how to help someone else or how to help yourself. Keeping silent about the symptoms of mental illnesses only furthers the idea that it’s something that you should be embarrassed about. If you learn anything from this editorial, though, I want you to remember that you are not broken; you are not damaged goods due to your physical, mental, or other conditions that could be used to describe you. Talk about it.
December 15, 2015
'THE FORCE AWAKENS' - As Do Internet Rumors
by KAREN STEELE
Carrie Fisher being told to lose fifteen pounds.
Harrison Ford’s broken ankle.
Who are Rey’s parents?
Is BB-8 the villain?
Where the heck is Mark Hamill???
Questions and rumors have been flooding in as soon as the new Star Wars movie as was confirmed and since the trailer was released. Unfortunately, almost none of these have been addressed. The trailer only gave us more curiosities and questions, further fueling our excitement and anticipation for December 18th. After watching the trailer for the ninety-second time, I’ve scoured the Internet and nerd forums for answers and speculations.
What is the “First Order”? Mystery still shrouds the army of Stormtroopers and Supreme Leader Snoke. We are given a glimpse of a chrome-plated Stormtrooper, nicknamed the “Chrometrooper,” called Captain Phasma, the first female Trooper known in the Star Wars universe. All we know so far is that Disney has copyrighted her name, giving the impression that she’ll stick around for the rest of the trilogy.
Kylo Ren has a fire-spitting lightsaber. My question is - where can I get one? Reddit fans speculate that he’s not as bad as he seems, and, if the force reawakens in him, he could follow a path of redemption, which is a common theme in the previous six movies. Kylo Ren’s lightsaber has received lots of ridicule and controversy, saying that the design of the handle and that he would end up cutting off his own hand.
Thirty years later and people are still flying the same ships. A Star Destroyer is shown to be crashed in the desert during the trailer. Who shot it down? And why does c3P0 have a red arm? Where are the Sith? Where is Luke Skywalker?
In the trailer, we hear Luke Skywalker say, “My sister has it,” and we see a pair of hands exchanging a closed lightsaber. Examining the design of the saber, commenters note the handle resembles Anakin’s weapon that Luke received. The hands appear to belong to women, although that could be totally incorrect, which raises the questions - is Leia receiving the saber? Is she passing it onto Rey, or is it someone that we haven’t met yet?
What does Darth Vader’s scorched helmet mean? He very well could have become a cult figure, since Jedis and the Force have reportedly become a thing of the past and legends. Kylo Ren hints at being the cult leader of a possible new “religion,” although the trailer answers no questions and prompts us to ask even more.
Why is Leia crying? Is she saying goodbye to someone? How is everyone related? Will there be Ewoks and Wookies? What other returning characters can we look forward to, if any? Has Luke joined the Dark Side, or is he the leader of it all? Is anyone going to say “I have a bad feeling about this.”? What role does Lupita Nyong’o play? The only released photo of her shows her as a short, orange lady with big goggles. And, most importantly... Where is Luke???
photos by Disney and Lucasfilm
November 20, 2015
Mind Over Matt Dives into Brain of Hopeless, Helpless Illustrator
by KAREN STEELE
The lights were out. The entire auditorium was dark. Slowly, the lights came on... and lead Christopher Moran was asleep in his underwear, as was his nerdy subconscious counterpart, played by Sam Miller. McLoughlin's newest drama play is a hilarious comedy called Mind Over Matt.
“It's been a really fun adventure, and it's a smaller cast than we've had before,” said Director Melissa Cunnington, comparing this play to ones in the past. “It's a little bit different than what we've done before, so it's exciting that we're attempting something a little bit more challenging for us.” In years past, she has had to work hard to find a play with enough parts so everyone in the drama class who wanted to be in the play could. For this semester's play, she tried something new: choosing a play with a small cast and opening up the opportunity for everyone in the school to audition.
Despite all of the jokes cracked (along with the Star Trek references out the wazoo), Mind Over Matt offers the opportunity to take a much closer look at why people do the things they do. The different personalities of Matt (played by Moran) are personified by Taylor Johnson, Collin Green, Sam Miller, Marcos Saldaña, and David James, who, respectively represent Matt's responsible, vain, nerdy, curmudgeonly, and misogynistic sides. Together, the five personalities take turns controlling what Matt does and says, bearing similarities to Pixar's Inside Out, but with a very unique feel and atmosphere.
The actors have put lots of effort into their play, as shown in their near-perfect synchronization when Matt hits his head on the table and all five of his personalities react at the same time. Both Saldaña and Miller put lots of time into developing the voices of their characters; Saldaña with a gravelly tone that sounds like it would hurt his throat and Miller with a constant, nasally whine. Moran did a great job keeping himself occupied while not distracting the audience during the soliloquies of the personalities, and Cynthia Ruiz (playing Rose) bravely had a glass full of water tossed at her.
Katie Torres (Ms. Killian) dominated the stage with her powerful presence as she stalked back and forth, demanding the audience's attention as she delivers her icy lines. The cast also shares a sense of familiarity, like they all have known each other for Matt's whole life, proven when they march together in a drunken conga line and cracking up while making (terrible) puns. The role of Matt's cranky landlord, Mrs. Snyder (Grace Miller) reaps laughter, as does the friendly banter between the Devil and the Angel (Sandra Pereyda and Ashley Gardner), who take turns making good and bad choices for Matt.
As always, this Mac-Hi play delivers, providing a chance for students to see their peers in completely different ways (i.e. in their underwear, drinking from sippy cups, wearing each other's underwear, and some butt-slapping). All in all, Mind Over Matt is another great performance by the Pioneers and Mrs. Cunnington, with props to the crew (Mackenzie Norton, Grace Merritt, and Cynthia Lozano) and Todd Cunnington for his continued willingness to help with stage setup.
 |
| Samuel Miller, seen tied up. Johnson helped, while James, Green, and Saldana stood by. |
 |
| Torres places a gentle hand on Moran's shoulder while Saldana enjoys the view, and Miller, James, Green, and Johnson run away in fear. |
 |
| Pereyda looks at Ruiz and Moran lovingly. |
 |
| The entire crew: Lozano, Merrit, Ruiz, Torres, James, Samuel Miller, Moran, Johnson, Saldana, Green, Gardner, Grace Miller, and Pereyda. Not pictured: Mackenzie Norton. |
Some memorable quotes:
- “Good morning, testosterooomies!” - Rose (Johnson)
- “Ms. Killian? More like Mrs. Kill-Her-Men!” - Dylan (Green)
- “Who do you think is the best [James] Bond?” - Matt, asking Penny (Ruiz), a potential love interest, the most important question
- “Halo everybody!” - Angel (Gardner) to Devil (Pereyda)
- “She wants to have our babies!” - Butch (James)
- “We're sorry... That your stupidity forced us to hurt you!” - Dylan
November 16, 2015
'Día de los Muertos' Meets Shakespeare
by KAREN STEELE
All of the lights were out in the Powerhouse Theatre in Walla Walla. The faint sounds of scuffling feet could be heard on the stage as the actors got into position. Once the lights turned on, they were frozen in place, their bodies and painted faces telling a story.
All of the lights were out in the Powerhouse Theatre in Walla Walla. The faint sounds of scuffling feet could be heard on the stage as the actors got into position. Once the lights turned on, they were frozen in place, their bodies and painted faces telling a story.
The story was told in English first by a member from the Powerhouse crew, and then in Spanish by Sandra Pereyda. It was the story of a king, portrayed by Marcos Saldaña, who ascended to the throne through murdering his brother. Taylor Johnson played the ghost of the prince’s father, the true king of the land. These images of the frozen actors are called tableaus. Some of them were moving slowly. In one scene, the prince stood above his uncle, knife poised, and they slowly shifted to the next scene where the king fell on his side as the prince lowered his weapon. Other props were used during the performance, such as swords during a battle, crowns, goblets, and jester hats to add color and vivacity to the play.
“It was fun and exciting,” said Camille Riley, a Junior. Although she has been involved in community plays in years past, this is her first semester in Drama with Mrs. Cunnington. “I enjoyed performing in a new and somewhat difficult way. While on stage, I got to learn a bit more about the Day of the Dead.” She went on to describe how much fun she had.
Collin Green, who performed the role of the prince, stated that it was “interesting to go at Hamlet from a different perspective.”
Although our Drama Club was only involved for the one night, the theatre was full, the audience was captivated, and the growing thespians will remember this night for years to come.
Thank you to Melissa Cunnington for letting her use her pictures.
November 06, 2015
The Court of Appeals Appears at Mac-Hi
by KAREN STEELE
For the first time in the history of Eastern Oregon, a legitimate Court of Appeals took place in McLoughlin’s Jack Williams Auditorium. Three court judges, two public defenders, and one prosecutor entered Tuesday morning, along with a bailiff and police escort. What happened on stage was nothing like anything you’ve seen on TV.
One of the two important things to understand is that this is not the “heroic defense attorney vs evil prosecutor” cases that you see on cable programming. Secondly, this was a real Court of Appeals session. It was the real deal, not a fun reenactment just to entertain high schoolers.
Some background information: before the Court gathers, the kind of typical court action that you’re used to seeing has already happened. The defendant has already been declared ‘guilty’ by the judges and the jury. If said defendant feels that the verdict is unfair or biased (or verdicts, if they are being tried for multiple charges), an appeal is filed. Basically - imagine a four-year old whining “it’s not fair!” This is also called a complaint. If deemed to be a viable complaint by a panel, the appeal moves on to the Court of Appeals.
The three judges (Judges Rex Armstrong, Erika Hadlock, Jim Egan; seen at left, in order) gather, along with the defendant’s attorney (in these cases, Mark Brown and John Evans) and the state prosecutor (Prosecutor Shaw). The defender has 10 minutes to explain the background information to the judges and then explain the points that their client has complained on - the ruling is unfair, the charges are biased or unjust, this piece of evidence was ignored, etc. Then the prosecutor takes the stand for 15 minutes and explains why the appellate court gave this ruling. For the last five minutes, the defender counters the prosecutor’s points and justifies them for their client’s sake. At the 30-minute mark, a red light goes off and the defense leaves the stand.
Not super exciting, but still intriguing. After hearing over ten of these on a typical day, the judge returns home, and, sometime over the next month, writes up an opinion, where they explain if they feel that the previous ruling was accurate, or if it should be appealed (removed, taken back, recalled). If two or more of them decide that the complaint should be appealed, they meet up and write an official opinion and turn it in. And the cycle continued.
The published opinions from the Court of Appeals on October 27th can be found at this website: http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/Pages/OpinionsCOA2015.aspx.
October 07, 2015
Mac-Hi Senior Attends All-Expense Paid University Event
by KAREN STEELE
Senior Erika Landa recently had the opportunity to go on an all-expense paid trip to Franklin & Marshall College in Central Pennsylvania. The event, which lasted three days and two nights, featured a thorough tour of all of the buildings on campus and encouraged the fly-in visitors to sit in on classes and hang out in the freshmen dorms. The college fly-in program also allowed her to learn more about some of her top schools. She learned that F&M has a supportive financial aid program with a 100% satisfaction rate and puts a much higher priority of academics than athletics. It highlighted how unique their business programs are. Attending these events increases students’ chances of being admitted to the school they visit.
“This was such a great experience,” Landa said, over a jigsaw puzzle and a strawberry Italian soda at Nature Gardens. “I’d recommend this to anyone.” Over the summer, she sent in applications to four different fly-in programs and was accepted by two: F&M and Buckwell University, her dream school, which she’ll be visiting in November. For both events, she was the only student from the Northwest accepted, and she explained how a lot more of the “prestigious” high schools on the East Coast have a requirement for their students to visit colleges their senior year. Because we don’t have the specific types of counselors that they do, Erika repeated many times she welcomes anyone to come up to her and ask her questions at any time - “especially Juniors,” she added.
Another point that Landa made was that lots of colleges have some sort of fly-in program, though not all of them completely paid for. Attending these types of programs shows the schools that you have interest, and they will remember the students who have visited them, especially if the size of each class is as small as it is at Franklin & Marshall, which accepts only 85 business students every year. If you’re curious about a school, or passionate about a certain program, this will give you a lot of the insight you need, she said, explaining how much useful information it provided.
“There were so many different kinds of people, kinds that you’d never meet in Milton-Freewater,” she told me excitedly. The event broke stereotypes for her, and she met and interacted with people in ways that she would never had imagined. She provided some examples, such as a girl from Hawaii, a transgender individual, a few Alaskans, and some kind East-Coasters who broke the stereotypes she had in mind. “Get out of this small town. There are so many more options; explore, learn responsibility, be independent. Get a taste of the college life,” she encouraged.
“Also, don’t wait until the last minute,” she provided as an addendum. To be able to attend the fly-in programs, most applications need to be turned in during the summer. Over and over, Landa explained her enthusiasm and how much fun she had, and she encourages anyone with any interest to contact her and ask any questions they might have. “It was the best experience of my life,” she ended, with a smile.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)