School Play at Sunridge Middle School

March 18, 2024/in District Site News, Sunridge News /by rthornburg

Students at Sunridge Middle School will be presenting the play “The Raven & the Rue Morgue” on March 19-21, 2024.

The play is based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe. It has 14 actors, five singers, and three crew members doing technical work. Abby Foust, a senior at Pendleton High School, is also an assistant director. The play is rated PG as it is a “whodunit” mystery with some references to violence.

The play will be performed at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, 3/19, Wednesday, 3/20, and Thursday, 3/21, at Sunridge Middle School.

Admission is FREE and open to the public.

Pendleton High School Student Awards

March 15, 2024/in District Site News, High Schools News /by rthornburg

Several Pendleton High School students have worked hard and won awards at recent competitions.

TSA (Technology Student Association)

Students from both PHS Engineering and PHS Digital and Media Arts compete in TSA competitions throughout the year. Students recently competed in February at the competition for Promotional Design at the Boardman BMCC Campus. Pendleton had nine competitors in the event and fifteen total competitors from three regional high schools. The competition was to create three different promotional designs, plus a portfolio cover for the Oregon State TSA Conference that will be held in April.

Laura Ward (Sophomore) won 1st Place for her Promotional Design for TSA. Ward’s designs included a poster, T-shirt, and button design.

EOU Regional High School Art Show

Each year in late February, EOU organizes its Regional High School Art Show, hosted in the Nightingale Gallery, displaying artwork from 13 regional high schools. The following PHS students were awarded:

Atlas Garcia (Junior) won the PCA Promise Award, a $100 cash prize.
Paige Erickson (Senior) won Honorable Mention

Pendleton Center for the Arts (PCA) Poster Contest

This year, Pendleton Center for the Arts hosted its poster contest design in conjunction with the Eastern Oregon Climate Change Coalition to promote climate change awareness. The following PHS students received awards:

Viviana Martinez (Senior) won 1st place, a $500 cash prize.
Jubilee Morrison (Junior) won 2nd place, a $300 cash prize.
Mollie Waterworth (Junior) won Honorable Mention, a $100 cash prize.

Pendleton Center for the Arts Open Regional Photography Exhibit

PHS art students submitted 18 photographs for the teen section of PCA’s Regional Photography Exhibit in early March. The following students received these awards:

Tori Estrada (Senior) won Teen First for “Grandma and Her Room”
Laura Ward (Sophomore) won Teen Third for “Fog”
Atlas Garcia (Junior) won Honorable Mention for “Man Made Stars”

Abbey Prevot, PHS Visual Arts & CTE Teacher, said the recent awards represent the hard work and talent of these high school students. “I am very proud of all the students who participated in these competitions and excited to see the award-winning students recognized for their dedication and skill,” Prevot said.

Pendleton TSA promotional design group.

Viviana Martinez PCA poster – 1st place.

Paige Erickson EOU honorable mention.

Jubilee Morrison PCA poster – 2nd place.

Mollie WAtersworth PCA honorable mention poster.

Laura Ward TSA – 1st place.

Laura Ward TSA promotional design.

3rd-Grade Class Named Oregon Reading Champions at McKay Elementary

March 14, 2024/in District Site News, McKay Elementary /by rthornburg

McKay Creek Elementary is proud to announce that Teacher Noele Mead’s 3rd-grade class has been crowned Oregon State Reading Champions for READBowl 2024.

READBowl is a free global reading competition where Pre-K through 8th-grade teams around the world compete to read for the most minutes over four weeks. This year’s seventh annual competition was held from January 8 (the day of the American College Football National Championship Game) through Super Bowl Sunday in February. The program is organized by Read with Malcolm, the youth literacy initiative of NFL Super Bowl Champion and children’s book author Malcolm Mitchell.

In a press release from READBowl, Mitchell said, “Winning a state championship is always prestigious. However, this year is especially notable, as there were more than 280,000 students from all 50 states and 14 countries on the reading field for the big game this year. I am so proud of every student who competed and congratulate our state and national champions.”

Overall, students from across the globe read for more than 180 million minutes during READBowl 2024.

Mead’s class read a total of 102,788 minutes to become the Oregon champions!

“We were completely shocked!” Mead said. “There was an uproar of WOO-HOO’s when I read the email out loud. As a teacher, it is such an honor to have my students recognized for their hard work and dedication to reading. Not everyone enjoys reading and for every student to be excited to participate was a highlight.”

Each day, students counted the reading they did while at school – reading instruction, reading silently, group reading, and anything they read during the day. They also kept track of the minutes they read at home. Mead said she saw an increase in her students completed weekly reading logs, which made her book-loving heart happy. Her students were the most excited when she told them the class was getting a box of books. One student stated that they were excited to have a prize they could keep forever.

McKay Teacher Shelby Cook’s 2nd-grade class also participated in READBowl 2024.

District Selects New McKay Creek Elementary School Principal

March 13, 2024/in District Site News, News - District & All Schools /by rthornburg

The Pendleton School District School Board has selected Mrs. Anne Sokoloski as the new Principal at McKay Creek Elementary School.

Sokoloski is currently the Dean of Students at Loma Vista Elementary School in the Hermiston School District. Prior to that, she was a Counselor at Desert View Elementary in Hermiston and a Child Development Specialist at the Pendleton Early Learning Center in Pendleton.

“I am thrilled to return to Pendleton to serve as principal of McKay Creek Elementary,” Sokoloski said. “The past two years as Dean of Students at Loma Vista in Hermiston have been invaluable in helping me grow as a leader. The Hermiston School District, colleagues, students, and families have played a pivotal role in my career, and I appreciate their support and collaboration.”

Sokoloski earned a bachelor of science in Speech Communication from Oregon State University and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Eastern Oregon University. She received her Professional Administrator Licensure from Lewis and Clark College in 2019.

According to Superintendent Kevin Headings, “Mrs. Sokoloski possesses the qualities we are looking for in our next McKay Elementary principal. She’s a skilled leader, student-centered and a strong communicator. Finding someone with knowledge and understanding of our region and who is familiar with Pendleton is an added bonus.”

Sokoloski will replace the outgoing principal, Sherri Kilgore. Sokoloski’s contract begins on July 1, 2024.

Read Across America at Sherwood Elementary

March 6, 2024/in District Site News, Sherwood School News /by rthornburg

Read Full Article

Author Gary Hogg Visits Washington Elementary School

March 5, 2024/in District Site News, Washington School News /by rthornburg

On Wednesday, February 28, 2024, all of the students at Washington Elementary School got to spend time with an author in their school. Gary Hogg, author of the Spencer’s Adventures and Charlie Bacon books series, plus other books for young readers, visited the school thanks to funds from Altrusa International of Pendleton and the Parent Club at Washington.

Hogg started the all-school assembly by relating a story of him and his children encountering spider monkeys in the jungle on a family trip. His descriptions of a monkey jumping in the car and several of his children trying to get the monkey out of the car had Washington Wildcats engaged and laughing. Hogg explained that everyone has stories to tell. “You have a voice in the world, and the world needs your author’s voice,” Hogg told the students.

When he was in elementary school, Hogg told jokes to his fourth-grade teacher, who finally encouraged Hogg to turn those jokes into stories into books that would be read worldwide. And that’s what Hogg has done. He encouraged students to listen to their teachers, who are working hard for students and whose “superpower is hearts that hold hope for all of their students.”

After the school-wide assembly, Hogg conducted workshops in the school library with each grade level. During the fifth grade, the author outlined a few strategies for effective writing:

Use fancy colors
Use interesting size descriptions
Put names on things
Describe places
Be a detail detective

Students then worked on writing personal narratives. One last piece of advice from Hogg was, “Remember, there is only one you in the world. When you write, to be powerful, you have to be original.”

Gary Hogg grew up in Burley, Idaho, with a mom who loved to read and a dad who loved horses. He is the author of 26 books and has visited more than 3,700 schools. Learn more about him at garyhoggbooks.com

PHS Forecasting Night

March 4, 2024/in District Site News, High Schools News, Sunridge News /by rthornburg

PHS Forecasting Night was a success on February 28, 2024! Thank you to all the students and families who joined us to learn about opportunities at PHS.