NCSD Stories

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.

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.