WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2015
The Observer
Elgin grads bid farewell
STORYTELLING
Tim Mustoe/The Observer
Elgin High School PrincipalWayne Herron gives his commencement speech to begin the graduation ceremony Tuesday night. There were 30 Elgin seniors who graduatedTuesday night, with eight of those students receiving scholarship funds.
SCHOOE La Grande HS choir to perform The La Grande High School Choir will give a concert May 28. The concert will start at 7 p.m. in the LHS commons.
North Powder
banquet set The North Powder School District's activity awards banquet will be conducted May 27. The banquet will start at 6:30 p.m. in the high school
Ballroom dancing set at La Grande HS A ballroom dancing ses-
Submissions School districts, teachers, parent groups, booster clubs are encouraged to submit news and info for the Education page by 4 p.m. Monday for publication Wednesday.Submit by email to news@ lagrandeobserver.com (with School News 8t Info in the subject line), by fax to 541-963-7804, or by hand to the office sion will be conducted at La Grande High School on Friday. The session will start at 3:30 p.m. in the LHS commons. — I/VesComNews Service
CRYSTAL APPLE AWARDS
Dick Mason/TheObserver
Author Kerry Doherty signs a copy of his book after a presentation at La Grande Middle School. The LMS students from left are Tristin Walker,Ty Rivas, James Thurman and Mia Moschkau.
LHS grad gives students tips on making their writing come alive • Kerry Doherty's characters take on lives of their own in Harry Potter-style story By Dick Mason The Observer
Sometimes the end is actually the beginning. At least it is for Kerry Doherty, an author who gave presentations about the art of fiction writing last week at La Grande Middle School and La Grande High School. "I think of my climax first and then how I want to get the main character to that point," said Doherty, who grew up in La Grande and now lives in Dover, New Hampshire. Doherty is the author of the new book'Thomas Holland and the Prophecy of Elfhaven." It is a Harry Potterstyle fantasy with a sci-fi twist, one which is winning praise from readers submitting critiques on Amazon.com. "Thomas Holland and his new friends kept me entertained and turning the pages (on my Kindle) until the very end," wrote a reader named Dea Sue in an Amazon.com review. Doherty told students at LMS that the key to hooking readers in this way is posing questions, especially as the conclusion of a chapter nears. 'You want to ramp up the tension with an unanswered question at the end of the chapter," Doherty said.'You want to give a question the reader does not know the answer to. You don't want to givethereader the answer,atleast notyet." Doherty also said it is important to make readers like the main character so they end up rooting for the individual. 'You want to make readers bonded to the main character. The reader should want to see the character get through (his or her challenge)," Doherty said. He also said thatitisimportant for an author to give his characters flaws. Once these flaws are established, the author can create hair-raising situa-
r
11UnionConntv edncatorshonored By Dick Mason
for 31 years.
The Observer
Seventeen Union County educators were recently saluted by the InterMountain Education Service District. The educators were recognized by the IMESD as recipients of its annual Crystal Apple Awards for excellence in education. 'The Crystal Apple Awards are a way for the IMESD and the schooldistrictswe serve to show their appreciation forstaffwho areproviding superior learning environments," said Michele Madril, IMESD communications specialist.cWe are proud to recognize these outstanding individuals who are making a difFerence every day for students." The following are the Union County winners:
INTERMOUNTAIN ESD Mandi Parsons, a classroom assistantforthe IMESD's Early Intervention/
/Early Childhood Special Education-based program. Parsons has worked for the ESD for three years. Wendy Simer, an executive assistant who has been an ESD employee for 32 years.
LA GRANDE SCHOOL DISTRICT Amber Kessinger, a student intervention assistant at La Grande Middle School. She has been with the school district forfouryears. Steve Soldavini, the head custodian at Greenwood Elementary School. He has worked in the school district for 26 years. Julie Troutman, a special COVE SCHOOL DISTRICT educationparaprofessional Kyle Barnes, the school dis- at La Grande High School. trict's head custodian. Barnes Troutman has been with the has been with the school schooldistrictfor 12 years. distric tfor seven years. Tara Tucker, a sixth-grade Eric Gustavson, who teaches teacher at La Grande Middle grades 6 through 8 and is the School. Tucker has taught in high school art teacher. Gusthe schooldistrictfor25years. tavson has worked in the Cove School Districtfor17years. NORTH POWDER SCHOOL DISTRICT ELGIN SCHOOL DISTRICT Natalie Bingham, a high Patti Durfee, the front school English teacher who office secretary for Stella has been with the school Mayfield School. Durfee has district for tw oyears. w orkedforthe schooldistrict Betsy Nedrow, a registered for more than 20 years. physical education teacher, Diana Grandeen, afourth- cook and paraprofessional. gradeteacher atStella Nedrow has been with the M ayfield. Grandeen has been schooldistrictforsix years. w iththeschooldistrictfor more than 25 years. UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT Vivian Matthews, a high IMBLER SCHOOL DISTRICT school English teacher. Amy Herron, a paraprofes- Matthews has taught in the sional at Imbler High School. Union School District for 25 Herron is a one-on-one aide years. and has been with the school Chris Dunlap, a fourthdistric tforoneyear. grade teacher at Union ElBecki McIntosh, a second- ementary School. Dunlap has grade teacher. She has been with the school district w orkedforthe schooldistrict for 10 years.
• 0
•
n
Dick Mason/The Observer
Kerry Doherty talks with La Grande Middle School studentsTy Rivas, center, and JamesThurman. tions for the individual. "Ifa characterisclaustrophobic,you can put him in a situation where the walls are closing in. In a cave which gets narrower and narrower...Ifhe is scared ofheights you put him on the edge of a cliff a said Doherty, who is now writing a sequel of'Thomas Holland and the Prophecy of Elfhaven," which he hopes will be out in November. Another technique Doherty uses to create suspense is telling the reader something important which the main character does not know. He said that legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock did this. 'The audience would know that characters were in danger, but the characters on the screen did not," Doherly said. Doherty is a 1972 La Grande High School graduate who also attended LMS and GreenwoodElementary School. He attended LMS when it was La Grande Junior High School. Doherty's first published works were articles he wrote for his junior high newspaper, then named "Kitten News
and Views." Doherty later earned a degree from the University of Portland and became a sofbvare engineer. Today he works full time as a writer. It is a labor oflove. "Sometimes I'll start writing at 8 a.m. and I think I've only been writing for an hour but when I look up itis 5 p.m.," he said. He said his engineering background influences his writing style. "I write a very detailed outline for my books," Doherty said. He also writes biographies of all his characters, which he makes reference to while completing a work. Doherty saidhe becomes closetohischaracters while writing his books. "I know the characters inside and out, know exactly how they will react to a situation," Doherty said. Still, the author finds that the writing processhas a spontaneity allits own. "Sometimes it seems like the characters want to write their own story," he said.
Survey finds decline in school bullying Bullying has spread from school hallways and bathroomstosocialm edia, Fewer students say they raising awareness in recent are being bullied at school. Those who are bullied years of what was once are more likely to be girls largely an underground than boys and more likely issue. The focus has resulted in anaggressive effortto to be white than minority tackle it from local school students. The Education Departofficials on up to the federal ment announced survey government. results Friday that found 22 Among thesurvey fi ndmgs: percentofstudents age 12 — About a quarter, or 24 to 18 said they were bullied in 2013. The figure, down percent, ofgirlssaid they 6 percentagepoints from were bull ied compared to20 2011, is the lowest level percent ofboys. since the National Center — A higher percentage of for Education Statistics white students — 24 percent began surveying students on — said they were bullied bullying in 2005. than black, Hispanic or By Kimberly Hefling
The Associated Press
• 0
•
Asian students. Twenty percent ofblack students said they were bullied compared to 19percent ofHispanic students and 9 percent of Asian students. Among respondents, 9 percentofgirlsand 5percentof boys said they'd experienced cyberbullying either in school or outside of school. Unwanted text messages was the most common way students said they were cyberbullied followed by hurtful information posted on the Internet. Education Secretary Arne Duncan praised the news of an overall decline but with a caveat: "Even though we've come a long way over the
past few years in educating the public about the health and educational impacts that bullying can have on students, we still have more work to do to ensure the safety of our nation's children." Students bullied are more likely to struggle in school, skip class, face substance abuse and commit suicide,the department said research has found. Being made fun of, called names or being insulted was the most common way the surveyed students said they were bullied. Being the subject of rumors or threatened with harm was also common.
• 0
•