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Saturday, Sept. 24, was the open house for the new cafeteria at South Albany High School. It was a chance for community members to see the beautiful new learning space for students.

It was also a chance to recognize and thank community members who contributed more than $212,000 to the Albany Public Schools Foundation to support furniture, equipment and facilities that were not part of the rebuild budget.

Student leaders gave tours of the building, and SAHS staff were on hand to talk about culinary arts, consumer science and music programs. The SAHS band and the new Rebel Nation a capella choir performed.

South Albany High School is opening doors to its beautiful new cafeteria. This is the official celebration of the new educational space. The cafeteria and classrooms in the new building were possible because of the tremendous community support for students and schools.

Join us on Sept. 24 at 10 a.m.

Each month the Tangent Fire department brings a truck to Tangent Elementary School for  a birthday lunch with students having birthdays that month. On Friday,  the department honored children with birthdays in August and September.

After lunch, the fire department take the students out to the fire truck. The driver explains features of the vehicle. In this visit, the driver sounded the siren.

After the tour, two of the fire fighters went to the kindergarten classroom, where one of them dressed in all of the gear that he wears in the event of a fire. The goal was to show children what a fire fighter looks like, so they would not panic in the event of an emergency.

Liberty Elementary students enjoyed a special assembly on Friday with a very special guest. Actor, author, TV celebrity and reading activist LeVar Burton visited the school to read to students.

Burton hosted the early childhood reading show, “Reading Rainbow,” for 26 years, making it the longest running children’s program and earning more than 200 awards.

He entertained the students with story time and Reading Rainbow Video Fieldtrips, including, “How Do Astronauts Poop in Space?” and “I Love My Job Because.”

Burton said he gets a lot of space related questions because of his work on the TV series Star Trek.

The assembly also included a reading of Burton’s new book, “The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm” and active dance and movement time, led by Kindermusik teacher Sue Hardin.

The school assembly was brought to Liberty by an anonymous donor who sponsored assemblies at five schools around the country.

Read more in the Democrat-Herald.

Calapooia Middle School Cougars are Courageous, Leaders, have Integrity, have a positive Mindset, Belong at the School.

These character traits spell out CLIMB, a new student engagement initiative that uses mountain climbing as a metaphor for overcoming obstacles and reaching goals.

The program is a new idea from teachers Stephanie Watson and Margo DeYoung. “Our teachers and administrators were looking to change our school climate, increase students’ engagement in school, and re-imagine our character education goals,” said Watson.

In a presenation to students, they explained why they chose the mountain as a metaphor:

“Mountain climbing is an amazing challenge that pushes people to their absolute limits. Anyone who conquers a mountain comes away as a changed person. But the mountain can also represent the journeys we take in life. Most of us will climb several “mountains” in our lives. Some people will be too afraid to ever try. What are some “mountains” you hope to conquer?”

Over the summer, Watson said, a group of five teachers came together and wrote Base Camp (advisory) lessons for 6-8 grade that they felt would help meet goals and student needs at the school.

“Our number one goal was to create an experience and environment in which students to want to engage in school and in which students have a vision of the future that inspires them. Our hope is that this proactive approach decreases our need to be reactionary in our management.”

CLIMB kicked off with a student assembly where students learned their mountain climbing goals and received team t-shirts.

Learn more about Calapooia CLIMB.