Scott Swanson
Principal Terry Martin stands on the bank of a pond on a sunny summer morning and baits a hook for one of some 25 middle-school-aged teens, all with fishing rods, milling about and casting into the water.
It’s the third day of summer school at Sweet Home Junior High and this is one of multiple activities taking place this morning, all over town.
At the junior high, a similar group is launching rockets. Still another is working with Legos, creating robots.
Later in the week, a group will head to the coast for some hands-on marine biology with Marine Discovery Tours in Newport. Oh, and there’s a movie day and bowling for those who didn’t go on that outing.
Along the way, youngsters are learning sewing skills, how to prepare and smoke meat and fish, how to make pickles, how to make and consume large quantities of pizza, how to make cupcakes (taught by local expert Gina Riley) and how to tie-dye T-shirts.
There’s a method behind the madness, organizers said.
“The whole point in everything we are doing is not only to keep kids busy and off the street but to help them discover skills they did not know they had,” said Aly Ellis, Student Services staffer at the Junior High, who organized much of the summer program, which has 100 kids signed up and, last week, an average of 89 showing up daily to participate.
“They’re socializing with their peers,” said Martin, as he watched a group of young fishermen around the pond at Radiator Supply House, which invited the school to use the facility.
“We really appreciate RSH allowing the kids to come in,” he said. “The big thing underlying it is that kids are having fun being together. Hopefully, they’ll all catch fish, but they’re standing side-by-side, talking.”
Assistant Principal Mark Looney said it’s also giving kids a chance to build “stronger relationships” with staff and teachers they will be interacting with in the fall. One new teacher, he said, has met 100 kids she otherwise would not have known when school starts.
But a key theme is an effort to bring back some normalcy for the kids.
“We’re kind of getting closer to the way it used to be,” Martin said.
“They’re just enjoying school,” said Ellis.
And they’re learning, Martin said, or at least applying what they’ve learned.
“Cooking pizza, they’re measuring. All the kids are doing measurements, and that’s something that shows up on assessments everywhere in the country, that measurement is low. Doing the proportions on the brine for the pickles – we’ve got skills that are taught in high school math.
“Yeah, we’ve got skills tucked in there, but they’re not sitting down, cracking open the books. The robotics and the rocketry? That’s crazy and we were doing that the first day.”
Did we mention the garden?
Martin said that’s been a very popular activity with teens who, he and others say, “are coming in telling us how anxious they feel.”
He said a survey of the junior-highers resulted in 67 percent indicating they had felt anxiety at one or more points in the 10 days prior.
“I’d say anxiety is probably the highest I’ve seen in kids,” said Looney, who has worked in education for some 27 years.
“We’re seeing kids who have been in their rooms behind computers,” Martin said. “Junior high should be one of the greatest times in their lives. They’re doing activities that some of them haven’t done before. They’re out doing real stuff.”
Then, he said, 10 percent of the participants are considered homeless and 30 percent are special education students.
For one, who spent the entire school year in on-line learning, this was her first peer-to-peer interaction in over a year.
And these are junior high-aged kids, with typical angst, lack of enthusiasm for direct authority, but with plenty of independence and curiosity and eagerness to avail themselves of useful skills.
“I’m used to fishing with an actual pole,” said seventh-grader-to-be Kandace Claunch, as she struggled with the button on the spin-cast reel on the rod she was holding. “I’ve gone fishing at least 1,000 times in my lifetime.”
The rods were purchased by the school, and each participant will get one, Ellis said.
She said one boy initially refused to learn to sew, but after he was talked into it, he’s completed multiple projects and is enthusiastic about the craft.
Another, Martin said, did not want to learn to make chocolate-chip cookies.
“I told him if he made the cookies, he could water the trees – we’ve planted some trees.”
The boy went for it, he said.
“It’s just figuring out what works for them,” Martin said.
So this isn’t normal summer school – making up lost time or effort in math, reading or whatever.
Except it is, and organizers intend it to have lasting effects.
Martin said that Ellis came up with the idea of giving each student a “S.L.A.M.opoly” card, resembling a Monopoly board, on which they get credit for each activity they’ve participated in.
“Each student has their own game card and whenever they complete an activity it gets hole-punched or marked off,” Ellis said. “Each activity completed will be worth raffle tickets. We are hoping to have enough prizes so every student will be able to take something home each week. In addition to the raffle prizes, we have had kids taking home their own pizzas made from scratch, decorated cupcakes, heating pads, and neck cooling wrap that they have sewed on their own.”
Martin said any local businesses or individuals who want to help out with raffle prizes can contact Ellis at (541) 367-7107.
Ellis said she put out a call for help on social media after she discovered that not all the girls had their own swimsuits.
One local woman bought 10 swimsuits in “every size,” she and Martin said, and others contributed as well. In fact, as a reporter stood in the Junior High office last week, a package arrived with another donated swimsuit.
Those will be used on Thursdays, when the kids receive water-safety instruction, followed by open pool swim time.
“We’re getting them any form of swim time,” said Ellis, herself a former high school swimmer.
Looney said the program is hitting a lot of buttons – including some the kids learned to sew on by themselves.
“It’s just been opportunities for things that kids don’t normally get to see – canning pickles or working in a garden – and building those relationships.
All of the youngsters who complete the program will have their food handler’s card when they leave, Martin said, calculating out loud that since the card expires in three years, nearly all the participants should still have a valid card when they are old enough to get a job.
Then, about 60 kids have signed up to get certified for child care, Ellis said.
The program began July 19 and will run through Aug. 20, Martin said.
It’s being paid for with a combination of state, local or federal funds, Business Manager Kevin Strong said.
He said the school district has received $340,128 in state grant money for kindergarten through eighth grade enrichment programing, and $268,064 for high school summer academic support, which will make up 75 percent of the total summer program cost.
Martin said he has about 10 certified staff and 12 classified staff who are working with the students, along with four highj school-aged “interns.”
It’s clear they’re enjoying this – not just the kids. As he talks with a visitor, Looney eyes a smoker in operation in a courtyard at the Junior High as he talks with a visitor: “I’m wondering why there’s white and black smoke coming out of that,” he says. “That’s not good.”
They’ve smoked salmon with the kids, and are hoping to do tuna, if they can get some, says Martin, who came to Sweet Home from Alaska. He offers up a sample of his “game-changer” smoked Chex mix.
“I’ve been in education for 25 years and I’ve never had the opportunity to do something like this,” he said. “They were kind of expecting something like a Title 1-type program and, you know, you’ll get maybe 20, 25 kids for the summer. I’m like, ‘No, I’m gonna need more money and we’re going to have 100 kids.
“Because the kids need it.”