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A brand-new calendar year at Rowe Middle School means new beginnings…new classes on the horizon…and this year, a new fashion trend that’s already sweeping through the school’s hallways. And while students and staff haven’t been shy showing off the new-look Shamrock spiritwear, the eighth grader behind the new design is a little shy about sharing her creative motivation.

If you know any young readers, you’ll want to keep sliding your tray along into this week’s episode! Our story begins once upon a time in the Oak Grove Elementary library, where staff can’t seem to keep up with orders for “Lunch Lady,” a set of popular graphic novels in which the school Lunch Lady solves captivating cafeteria capers. That’s until NCSD Nutrition Services managers Kris DeHut and Raimi Kaan said “Hold Your Horseradish!” to the Oak Grove book shortage—donating an entire set of books to the school and providing a cooking demonstration for students dressed as the Lunch Lady herself! Pass the condiments, as you’ll relish the chance to find out more behind-the-scenes information about NCSD’s Nutrition Services Department!

When local community members can’t afford to purchase new clothing, they can always turn to the Clothes Closet at NCSD’s Wichita Center for Family & Community, where racks of donated jackets, sweatshirts, jeans, shoes, and even baby clothes are always available every week.

But now when mom’s favorite jacket has a torn pocket, or there’s a hole in a child’s favorite hoodie, they can turn to Wichita volunteer Karen Lehman. The retired Special Education professional loves to lend a hand (actually both hands) when visitors’ clothes are literally hanging on by a thread.

High school basketball fans know how incredible Clackamas High’s varsity girls team plays on the court. The number-one ranked Cavaliers use stifling defense and long-range shooting accuracy to light up scoreboards in a hurry.

But this holiday season, they’re also making sure some local kids’ eyes light up on Christmas morning. The group of close-knit teammates who are always cheering for each other on the court…are also spreading cheer by anonymously adopting two local families in need.

The year was 1997. Titanic, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and Men In Black were the three biggest films of the year, and a brand-new company called Netflix started as an online DVD rental service. It was also the year that students and staff at Clackamas High School, then located in the building currently home to Alder Creek Middle School, created a schoolwide donation drive to help one local family have a much brighter holiday season.

To the delight of performing arts fans both at Clackamas High and across the Portland area, senior Jared Beideck has been uttering memorable lines on stage ever since his acting debut in third grade. The always upbeat character actor started with one singing line in Annie (“I used to throw away the papers!” he sang aloud during a recent interview), to playing The Lizard in A Year With Frog & Toad (“That was a fun one!”), to The Genie in Aladdin (“Maybe my most favorite role ever”), to The Donkey in Shrek, to The Beast in Beauty & The Beast.

But Beideck is always up for a new challenge, especially during his most recent role not only as an actor, but also director, producer, set designer, fundraiser, and even production company founder just to bring his all-time favorite play to the CHS stage.

Students at Happy Valley Elementary never know what to expect from Principal Sarah Jones.  In her first year as the school’s lively leader, she’s already directed morning drop-off traffic dressed as a giant orange traffic cone.

Yet even if Happy Valley’s surprised students never know what will come out of Jones’ closet next, they all know one thing for certain: Their principal cares very deeply about each one of them as more than just a student. Need proof? Just check the cafeteria, where Principal Jones meets groups of eager eaters most days to fulfill her goal of personally eating lunch with every single Happy Valley student before Winter Break. Yes, all 489 of them.

You may hear music in a mall or snow projections in a weather report, but the first true signs of winter in NCSD are heard in all of our high school gyms, in pools, and on the wrestling mats. December means the tip-off of the Winter athletic season! But starting up a new season isn’t just a simple lay-up…ever wondered who hires all the coaches, arranges the busses, and schedules all the practice and game times? It’s our four high school Athletic Directors! In this episode, we whistle Tom Moore (MHS/MAA), Tricia Halonen (RPHS), John Arntson (CHS), and Dana Cappelucci (ANHS) into the studio. The four ADs share the joys and challenges of their unique job, how they build relationships with their student athletes and coaches, and perhaps most importantly, what’s it’s like to see their students using skills learned in athletics…way beyond high school.