Friday editorial roundups

North Douglas cheerleaders succeed at state

When the basketball team clears the court at North Douglas High School in Drain and the cheerleaders take the floor, there’s good reason to keep watching.

The eight-member squad is the best in the state in the 3A/2A/1A division.

The cheerleaders brought home the state championship after competing in Portland last weekend. The win came after weeks of practices and cheering that occupied the team for two to three hours a day.

And during that time, the squad members kept up their grades. All eight are on the honor roll.

Today’s cheerleaders do much more than lead the crowd in cheers, they choreograph and perform dance routines, do gymnastics and throw one another up in the air. It requires a lot of coordination, athleticism and teamwork.

The community of Drain should be proud of its cheerleaders and their coach Heather Reel. They’ve obviously worked hard to bring about their own success.

Glide students welding gold

The welding done at Glide High School is top notch. The advanced agricultural mechanics students built a 20-by-6-foot tilt trailer that placed first in the Northwest Agriculture Show’s FFA Equipment Competition in Portland on Jan. 30.

Winning the award was satisfying for the students, but the fact that the trailer sold at the show for $3,500 is even more important for the students’ future.

That money will go toward materials so the students in the class can keep welding and building more equipment.

Teacher Ben Kercher is pleased Glide High has been able to retain its metal shop program, even if the budget is limited, because he sees his students gaining job experience.

He points out that they use geometry and technical reading skills and they must figure costs and work within a budget. In addition, the students push each other to do their best work all the time, he said.

It’s great to see a small high school like Glide offer a vocational program in welding and to see the students excel in state level competition.