Past NCSD Stories
Below you will find stories from the 2023-24 School year:
February 2024
It was near the start of the school year in 2007, and as school buses filled with eager kids criss-crossed the neighborhood streets around her home, Milwaukie resident Bobbie Reed said she was “in a funk.” The Chicago native and former Portland Public Schools librarian was mourning the recent loss of her mother and says she spent six months without any feeling of purpose or accomplishment.
A persistent neighbor finally convinced Reed to visit a nearby elementary school. “And so it was like, OK, time to get out of my own way,” remembers Reed, who entered the school doors hoping she could maybe volunteer a few hours on a couple days each week.
Luckily for Linwood Elementary staff members, students, and families, those few hours quickly turned into eight hours every day, and Reed’s outgoing personality has been a daily fixture at Linwood for the past 17 straight years…and counting!
NCSD middle school students are using their creativity and journalistic skills to put together a weekly broadcast to share with their peers what's happening around campus.
Tuesdays are production days in Lucas Dix’s class at Rowe Middle School. Students work together filming, editing and recording their segments for the Shamrock News.
When you walk around the Rowe hallways, you’ll see these student journalists with a microphone in hand asking students questions, or recording an announcement about the next school event coming up. In the small studio next to the classroom, three student anchors are filming their contribution to the newscast, making sure the show flows smoothly.
Now in her 5th year teaching at Beatrice Morrow Cannady Elementary, Barb Stephens knows that teaching her group of fourth graders about tricky math concepts like area and perimeter can be a challenge. It was even more challenging when she couldn't stray far from the stationary whiteboard in front of the classroom.
Luckily for Stephens and several other teachers across the district, it's Chromecasting to the rescue! Using a Google Chromebook, similar to a laptop computer or tablet, teachers can wirelessly cast what’s on the laptop screen to a larger monitor at the front of the classroom.
A small group of NCSD teachers piloted the program during the 2022-23 school year. After receiving a lot of positive feedback from various grade levels, the program has continued to expand during this school year.
March 2024
In the spirit of love and friendship that comes with February, NCSD elementary students brightened days for senior citizens across Happy Valley thanks to a partnership with city officials and community members.
Students from Scouters Mountain, Spring Mountain, Mount Scott, and Verne Duncan elementary schools jumped at the opportunity to participate in the City of Happy Valley's Card Care initiative. For the past three years, the City has partnered with North Clackamas Parks & Recreation to create "Care Card" kits, which contain enough supplies and materials to create two handmade cards.
Students from all four Happy Valley schools utilized the kits and returned piles of colorful cards to City Hall ready for distribution. That's where Happy Valley Elementary kindergartner Crosby Warneke took over, earning an endearing nickname along the way.
Long before he was a student at Clackamas High School, NFL tight end Cole Turner spent plenty of Friday nights rooting for the Cavs either from the football sidelines or in the basketball bleachers, dreaming someday the cheers would be for him.
“I was going to every Friday night game from the time I was in fourth or fifth grade, basketball and football,” says the 2018 grad. “I thought it would be crazy enough just to play high school football or basketball…I was never thinking that I could take it to the NFL."
Yet less than six years after graduation, Turner was back in the same gym, listening to the crowd roar as the school officially “retired” his CHS football and basketball jerseys between boys and girls varsity basketball games. After a promising rookie season with the NFL’s Washington Commanders, he’s the first-ever Cavalier athlete to receive such an honor, and hopes his newly framed jerseys on display will inspire young athletes throughout the community.
Despite essays that have earned him more than $1,000 in two consecutive years from Oregon’s chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Cody Smith sheepishly explains, “Overall, I think I’m a decent writer.”
The Adrienne C. Nelson High School senior is also extremely modest. Smith was recently awarded first place for his district in the VFW’s annual Voice of Democracy audio essay program, which challenges Oregon high school students statewide to express themselves about a specific democratic or patriotic theme through a recorded essay. Nearly 25,000 high schoolers enter each year, and as if this year’s award wasn’t enough to show off Smith’s prowess for prose, he also won first place in his Oregon district last year.
Smith says his English teacher, Jennifer LeSieur, first introduced him to the contest last year during Speech class. “And for the first couple days of class work time, I was like, ‘Should I do this?’,” remembers the outgoing student leader. “And then I just decided, ‘Why not?’ So I put in lots of work and wrote something really good.
Milwaukie Mustang Theatre partnered with local theater group New Century Players during their recent collaborative performance of I Never Saw Another Butterfly. The one-act play by Celeste Raspanti is based on poetry created in a concentration camp by Jewish children of Prague during the first World War.
Milwaukie Academy of the Arts students Carter Jayme, Max Young, Vivienne Dankers, Maia Da Silva, Cooper Dodson, Dylan Guy, and Aria Root are just a few members of the cast and crew that made I Never Saw Another Butterfly come to life. They said working with New Century Players on this project was a great experience both on and off stage.
“It was interesting to be around actors who have been doing it for their entire lives,” said Aria, a MAA senior who played the main character's mother.
“The New Century stage manager has been helpful in telling me how to call the show for the really big sections where there’s a lot of cues.” said Vivienne, a MAA junior who served as the show's stage manager. “She’s helped me work it out and know what I need to say. She’s also been an emotional support.”
April 2024
Although it's nearly mid-May, a team of Happy Valley Elementary fifth grade teachers are already creating science lessons for the upcoming fall…and there's something fishy about their lesson plans!
Heather Harris, Madelyn McQuilliam, and Rachel Peteri are one of several grade-level teams from NCSD elementary schools participating in the National Wildlife Federation Salmon Stewards Program, a project that trains local teachers how to raise salmon eggs starting in a small classroom aquarium until they're ready to be released into a local river or stream. The training has already started and continues throughout the summer and fall.
“It's just great. It's hands-on, really fun activities that we're practicing and then we'll have for the kids next year,” said an excited Harris.
Thanks to a grant from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), these teachers will be able to get all of the equipment needed to house salmon eggs starting this fall. The eggs are expected to hatch, and will eventually be raised in a tank in the classroom until they’re ready to be released, which will be in mid-December.
What started as an idea from Media Technician Dinette Wright is now the talk of the school, as staff-generated arts and crafts including watercolor paintings, cross stitch, and even crochet are on display for library visitors each day.
The display came to life after Wright emailed staff members asking if any would like to show off their artistic talents. Wright planned to put staff contributions on display as part of March's National Craft Month. Wright said the next thing she knew, the artwork and crafts came piling in.
Wright says the creative display sends the message to all students that anyone can be a crafter. “I told the kids ‘If you’re making something from another thing, you’re making a craft!’”
It's just moments into their third-period advanced Health Sciences Internship class at NCSD's Sabin-Schellenberg Career Professional Technical Center, and seniors can't wait to hear teacher Lyn Gray read down the list of possible internships assigned for the remainder of the school year.
“Pediatrics…labor and delivery…physical therapy…”
Throughout this spring semester, students in this career-focused elective rotate among hands-on "clinical assignments," which allow them to experience real-world professional responsibilities in multiple health care fields. On this day, before learning the details of their next rotations, the close-knit group of seniors share highlights of their recent learnings with each other, including one student who shared her experience working at Providence Milwaukie’s Diagnostic Imaging Center, adding that she was excited to see a nerve block for the first time.
Opportunities like this wouldn’t be possible without the many partnerships between SSC's Health Services Program and various local medical providers. Having this real-world experience at the high school level is unique, and sets NCSD students up for future success.
Why do fourth graders Ireland Treacy and Edno Ordoñez look forward to arriving through the front doors of Verne Duncan Elementary every Tuesday morning, nearly an hour before the first bell of the day? They're proud members of the school's Student Union, a unique program that provides fourth and fifth grade students an opportunity to share about their native cultures with peers.
“What made me interested in the Student Union was that a lot of people don't know that I'm Chinese or Vietnamese, and I wanted people to know and [learn] what it's about,” said Treacy.
“What made me interested in this group is that I could express my feelings about my culture,” added Ordoñez.
During their weekly meetings, the group of dynamic Dragonflies is encouraged to share about their cultural heritage with each other. The group typically also works on a fun activity together, participates in discussions, and shares snacks from different cultures represented.
Group members agreed that some of the most memorable activities this year included making flags that represented their culture, and playing fun bingo games together.
June 2024
Science In Real Time - Students Participate in Kellogg Creek Restoration Project
Behind Milwaukie Presbyterian Church on Southeast Lake Road in Milwaukie, you will find a beautiful outdoor sanctuary… a 4.2 acre wetland complete with a walking trail and home to a variety of native plants and other species.
And throughout this past spring, it’s also been an outdoor classroom for many NCSD middle and high school students, who are working with groups from the Kellogg Creek Restoration & Community Enhancement Project and Portland State University (PSU) to make sure the entire Kellogg Creek area continues to thrive.
Milwaukie High School junior biology students are getting hands-on experience during their class visits to the creek to help survey the area. During the survey, students tallied and identified the different species they could find to make sure native plants and animals are thriving.
“It’s so nice to have these partnerships so students can have real-world experience in science,” said Biology teacher Nicole Matthews.
While this seems like just a class assignment, the data these savvy science students collect will help support the larger effort to restore Kellogg Creek’s habitat. According to Peyton Priestman, Community Engagement Coordinator for the Kellogg Creek Restoration & Community Enhancement Project, the goal of the project includes long-term restoration of the Kellogg Creek area and creating a fish passage.
“There's been a lot of restoration efforts over the last 30 years, but there wasn't a lot of good science before the restoration. And so although we think [what’s been done in the past] is a really good idea, it's important to understand the impacts of it,” said Brian Weir, a Portland State University student helping with the project.
The restoration project isn’t limited to high school helpers, as Rowe Middle School students are getting their feet wet as well-- literally. Eighth graders in Dylan Richmond’s class worked on surveying the creek at a different location near campus. Classes were split into teams of three to five students, and one brave volunteer from each team had the opportunity to wade into the creek…with water protective gear of course.. to gather samples.
Rowe classmates Siena Janusz, Brooklynn Clardy, and Maddie Brubaker said this is the first time their class has come down to the area to collect data. They found a ton of different wildlife to identify, including some snails.
There is still a lot more to come for this large project. Priestman said both the middle and high school students will continue to help with surveys this fall.
You can find more information about the Kellogg Restoration and Community Enhancement Project here.
October 2024
Teen Parents Are Right on PACE to Earn Their Diploma
When 19-year-old Ellie Ison discovered she was pregnant during her senior year at Milwaukie High School, she was determined to earn her high school diploma, but didn't know how to solve the riddles of balancing her studies with the round-the-clock demands of being a first-time mother. She found her answers in an amazing program that's been a part of the North Clackamas School District for nearly 30 years.
NCSD's Parenting Academics Careers & Employment (PACE) Program offers pregnant or parenting students the opportunity to earn their high school diploma while receiving free, state-certified childcare and bus transportation to and from school at the district's Sabin-Schellenberg Professional Technical Center.
Putnam Senior Powered by Passion and Positivity
As if navigating a senior year in high school isn't challenging enough, try doing it as the student body president, captain of the dance team, singing in the school choir, participating in a student leadership group, and coordinating blood drives in the community. Rex Putnam High School senior Chelsey Xiong isn't only trying to do all of these things, she's succeeding!
“I am really aiming toward success,” Xiong said. “I want to make an impact on the world and the people around me.”
The sociable 17-year-old is making a big impact by being involved in so many activities. That may mean some long days, but she says working with the entire school community makes it all worth it. “Getting to reach out to new people in the student body that I haven’t talked to before has been my favorite part of this role,” said Xiong. “Because of communication and being able to work on different projects, you get to meet so many people that you wouldn’t usually talk to.”
Oregon Trail Loves Their "Light-Up Man"
After shuffling their way through neighborhood streets, the last stop for thousands of North
Clackamas students and families who walk to school each morning often comes at a crosswalk, where they’re met by a friendly crossing guard who makes sure drivers stop at the flashing lights blinking from all directions.
But what if all those flashing lights were actually woven into the friendly crossing guard’s clothes? That’s the case at Oregon Trail Elementary, where rain or shine every morning, students and families are guided across SE 152nd Avenue by volunteer Gordon Hubbard…who lights up kids’ faces by always reporting for duty decked out in blinking multi-colored lights from head to toe.
“I’m just trying to help out my community,” said the 77-year-old Hubbard, who first started volunteering at Oregon Trail seven months ago after a long stint volunteering at a local hospital. “Wearing all these lights in my clothes came from me just being silly and helping people get outside their comfort zone. It’s been great to see all the smiles on kids’ faces and just pass it on. I think we all need to do that more.”
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