2025 Crystal Apple Award Winners
CONGRATULATIONS to the Pendleton School District 2025 Crystal Apple Award Winners!
Nicole Kuza – Lead Secretary at Sunridge Middle School
Jess Cooper – Science Teacher at Pendleton High School
Emma Sims – Paraprofessional at Sunridge Middle School
Carol Aldrich – Title I Teacher at the Pendleton Early Learning Center
Students and Local Arts Center Team Up to Create Books
Kindergartners at the Pendleton Early Learning Center (PELC) recently flexed their artistic skills and had a great time working with staff from the Pendleton Center for the Arts to make their own small books.
The project happened through Roberta Lavadour, Executive Director at Pendleton Center for the Arts. She works with a group called Arts Learning Northwest that supports teaching artists; the organization had some funding available for an in-classroom art activity. Lavadour said that because the arts center loves working with the staff at PELC, it seemed like a perfect partnership.
Lavadour and Kate Brizendine, Coordinator of Education and Outreach at the arts center, spent two days teaching all PELC students how to make their own little book. Lavadour said the simple structures are perfect for highlighting the amazing growth the kids have had this one school year. Once they put together the book structure, students drew pictures and wrote words to make little how-to books. “They were absolutely adorable, and I had one parent tell me a week later that her son was still carrying it with him everywhere,” Lavadour said.
She added that there’s a particular pride in making your own book, and in addition to teaching them the skill, they wanted to provide materials so students could continue to explore handmade books and other art-making activities with their teachers. “Having nice materials to work with really helps engage people of any age in creative expression,” Lavadour said.
Pendleton Center for the Arts donated paint, sticks, liquid watercolors, crayons, cardstock, and a few other items to the school.
PELC Principal Angela Lattin said they appreciate the donation of the art supplies and the ongoing collaboration with the Pendleton Center for the Arts.
PELC Thanks Wildhorse Foundation & Others for Library Upgrade
Kindergartners at the Pendleton Early Learning Center (PELC) have an upgraded school library with new shelving to display hundreds of new books, thanks to the Wildhorse Foundation and other donors.
On Thursday, May 8, 2025, PELC staff gathered in the library to thank the donors and celebrate the new space. The Wildhorse Foundation grant was for $10,000. Other funding came from Title 1A, a TAPP (Tribal Attendance Promising Practices) Grant, and Title VI.
Angela Lattin, Principal of the PELC, thanked the Wildhorse Foundation. “This grant, braided with the other funding sources, was really game-changing for our school library. If not for the grant, we would have spent the next 10 years working on these projects.”
Ella Meyers, representing the Wildhorse Foundation, said the organization is really honored to be involved in something that directly impacts the youth in Pendleton and especially the connection to tribal culture. “It’s wonderful to be attending this event today, and it’s really lovely to see it turn into reality,” Meyers said.
The funding made these projects possible:
- 6 units of book shelving across stage area
- 4 units of book shelving on west wall
- Shelving units on front wall
- 806 new books
- Native American book section with 144 books written by Native authors or about Native American topics
- Stuffed animal buddies that students can read with
Principal Lattin said the PELC’s library is well utilized by students. After doing some calculations, she said this school year, there were 6,437 student trips to the library and 3,145 opportunities for students to check out books.
PELC Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary
The Pendleton Early Learning Center (PELC) celebrated 10 years of teaching kindergartners on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
In the 2015-2016 school year, the Pendleton School District embarked upon a new, exciting venture by opening the PELC. The new school, created by totally remodeling the old Hawthorne building, houses all the district’s kindergartners in one building.
Several teachers and staff members who worked at the PELC in the first year were at the school to celebrate the 10th anniversary. A group of them chatted in the school’s library, remembering what it was like to start working in the new building in fall 2015, which also marked the first year of all-day kindergarten at PSD.
They said they had to start from ground zero with every procedure, like where to line up, how to take kids to lunch, all the recess rules, everything. They commented that procedures changed a lot in that first year as they adapted to the space and to having 200 five-year-olds in one school.
“Over the next couple of years, we changed things and found better ways to do things,” said Jan Levy, former Kindergarten Teacher.
Some of the teachers who started at the PELC came from elementary schools that had only one kindergarten teacher, so the new school provided opportunities to collaborate with other kindergarten teachers. “One of the best parts about the PELC is that because it’s an all kindergarten school, you have teachers who all teach the same level and their resources so that you can figure things out much quicker,” said Brian Zimmerman, who started teaching the first year and is still teaching at the PELC.
Mireya Wolf, Paraprofessional, was there for the first year and still works there. She said that in the first year, everyone was nervous but also excited about the beautiful, colorful building. She said she loves coming to work at the PELC every day, and her favorite part is seeing the kids.
Lori Curtis, Lead Secretary, has welcomed students and families to the school for 10 years. She remembers the first year was all about working out the kinks of a new school building, and the decade since then has gone by so fast. Curtis loves the concept of the PELC and said, “It’s amazing having all the kindergartners in one location, and it’s fun having Head Start and IMESD preschool here and getting to know those families before the kids become kindergartners.”
Pendleton School District Superintendent Kevin Headings thanked the visionary administrators who established the PELC, which is considered a unique early learning center on the West Coast. “Until today, I didn’t realize how many staff who started here 10 years ago are still here, and that says something about the PELC, its culture, and what you all have created. The district is very proud of this school. Thank you to the PELC staff for doing what you do for the youngest learners in our district, it’s much appreciated,” Headings said.
PELC teachers and staff who started the first year and are still working there are: Donna Bostwick, Lori Curtis, Rachele Johnson, Shawndine Jones, Madelyn Naughton, Tracey Perkes, Mireya Wolf, Shellie Wyss, and Brian Zimmerman.
