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Saturday, October 3, 2015
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More than grades Career/tech department at BVHS wants to prepare students for the working world By Goldie Rapp grapp@bcrnews.com
MANLIUS — The career/technology department at Bureau Valley High School is hoping to form an advisory committee that would work to better prepare students for future careers. Willard Mott, high school agriculture teacher, and Tina Hufford, high school family consumer science teacher, spoke
to the board on Tuesday, Sept. 29, about their ideas for the committee. The vocational teachers see the committee as being useful in helping to strengthen curriculum, community relations and further develop career skills for students after high school. Mott explained the advisory committee would be made up of teachers from the department, an administrator, two school board members and members of the community who are currently work-
ing in career fields related to their classes. Mott said the committee would meet twice a year. In the spring, they would look at curriculum to make sure what is being taught in the classroom is relevant to what’s being done in the industry. Hufford explained she’s had experience with an advisory committee at a previous district she taught at before coming to Bureau Valley. She said the committee offered an insight to what was changing in the industry— more specifically, how technology was impacting the industry. “It was nice to have input in current business from people in that field that had to keep up with changing fields,” she said.
She said many community members in the field were able to look at the district’s curriculum, textbooks and technology being used in the classroom and discuss how well the school was implementing the new information to students. Mott said an advisory committee could help with student placement after high school. “It’s being done, but not at the scale we would like it to be at this point,” he said. Bureau Valley Superintendent Steve Endress mentioned how he sat down with the teachers and talked with them about their idea for an advisory com-
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Lending a hand Princeton Workcamp 2016 in search of homes that need TLC By Goldie Rapp grapp@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Plans for the upcoming Princeton Workcamp 2016 are underway. Over the last year, St. Matthews Lutheran Church and other area churches and organizations have worked to help bring Workcamp to the Princeton area. Workcamp is a Christian-based organization that helps bring youth group mission trips to area communities to take part in volunteer home-repair projects for others. Elderly, handicapped and lower-income residents in Bureau County are eligible to apply to receive free home repairs done by the workers. The workers will perform all sorts of projects to homes including interior or exterior painting, step repair, mobile home skirting, wheelchair ramp repair/ construction, weatherization, roof overs, porch repair/construction and more. Pastor Scott Schmidt of St. Matthews Lutheran Church said work must be able to be finished in one week. The Princeton Workcamp 2016 was able to raise the needed $30,000 for the projects that will take place next summer. Schmidt also confirmed adults and teenage volunteers from all over the U.S. have signed up to come to Princeton for the Workcamp next June. The only thing lacking for Princeton Workcamp 2016 is getting enough applicants to sign up to have a project done on their home. Schmidt confirmed only 12 homes have signed up. Princeton Workcamp 2016 is looking for anywhere between 35 to 50 homes. Those who may be interested in having work done must apply. Applications are available at local churches, Bureau County Senior Center, Tri-County Opportunities Council and from the Princeton
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BCR photo/Lori Boekeloo
St. Bede pride There was a lot of green and white at St. Bede Academy’s homecoming parade which traveled down St. Bede Lane on Thursday, Oct. 1, as supporters sported school colors. Other activities included a junior/senior girls’ powder puff game on Thursday and a variety show on Friday. Saturday’s events will include the Jim Lattin 5K run/walk and St. Bede Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony.
The echoes of war ... Shadows of the Blue and Gray returns By Dave Cook dcook@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Those passing through the entrance of Princeton’s City County Park on Oct. 10 and 11 will find themselves transported as they travel through the fog of war, emerging 150 years in the past, deep into the American Civil War. According to Randy Woodbury, chairman of the Princeton Civil War Committee, the popular event was not conducted last year because many of the re-en-
actment groups which usually attend the Shadows of the Blue and Gray were committed to larger events honoring the anniversary of the war. “We decided not to do it because several key features couldn’t attend, and we didn’t want to do it if it couldn’t be a quality event,” said Woodbury. This will be the 16th year for the re-enactment. The first was an encampment held at the Bureau County Fairgrounds. “The committee formed through the original event. It’s grown over the years; more people have gotten involved and features were added until it became a big event,” said Woodbury. During the Civil War, the Bureau County Fairgrounds was a muster site for area troops before taking the train to
Chicago for further training. “These weren’t soldiers. They were farmers and businessmen from all over our area,” said Woodbury. Rather than re-enacting a large battle, Shadows of the Blue and Gray replicates the smaller fights which often occurred around and on the way to or from a larger battle. “During the Civil War, especially in the western campaign, where a lot of Illinois residents fought, there were skirmishes every day. We can’t recreate a large battle because of our troop population, so we try to do a typical skirmish. Troops who may be engaged in a larger, earlier battle would run into other units
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