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ENLARGE
From left: Roseburg High School freshmen Anna Bruns, Terrin Nisfeldt and Courtney Hibbs for Family Development Center children. Fred Meyer of Roseburg set aside special registers for the students' purchases.
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ENLARGE
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Roseburg High School freshmen Taylor Padgett and Zach Wilson check the size on a pair of boots with teacher Rachel Jackson. The gifts the two bought at Fred Meyer Friday were dropped off at the Family Development Center and will be delivered to children at Christmas.
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ENLARGE
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Klyn Van Diviner and William Ortiz look at a pair of Nike's on Friday as they shop for children in need. The freshman, part of the Roseburg High School Silver Small Learning Community, raised $2,400 for presents they bought for children at the Family Development Center.
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‘I'm faster than fast,” announced the toy version of Lightning McQueen from the Disney movie “Cars.”
The talking toy continued to rev its recorded engine and sputter self-confidently as Roseburg High School freshmen Kalob Watson, Kyle O'Connell and Riley Van Horn looked the toy over and weighed their options Friday at Fred Meyer.
They had $100 to spend on gifts for two children at the Family Development Center who are in need of Christmas presents.
The trio are part of the silver house, a small learning community at RHS that, as teacher Rachel Jackson put it, teaches high school survival skills.
Seventy-six freshmen are in the silver house this year. Together the students learn reading and study skills, develop course plans and make friends with their classmates in a smaller environment as they slowly transition into the large school.
Part of the curriculum for the small learning communities is a community service project. This is the fourth year the silver house has raised money to fill out Christmas tree nethers for the families and children at the Family Development Center in Roseburg, which serves high-risk families and children 5 and younger.
The gold house, which has a friendly rivalry with the silver house, is doing a similar service project for the Christmas season and raised money for children's presents that the Salvation Army will hand out. Jackson said other freshmen houses had either completed their projects or would do them later in the year.
The teacher said the development center presentations to her classes always shock students as they learn of the great need in the county, and of the center's need for basic necessities such as diapers, shoes and socks.
Jackson said she's noticed the freshmen who enjoy the program the most are those in greatest need themselves, or those who have never been given money to shop for Christmas presents.
“This is the best part of my job,” Jackson said. “Teenagers get a bad rap for only being interested in themselves ... a lot of these (freshmen) are kids who have nothing.”
The talking toy continued to rev its recorded engine and sputter self-confidently as Roseburg High School freshmen Kalob Watson, Kyle O'Connell and Riley Van Horn looked the toy over and weighed their options Friday at Fred Meyer.
They had $100 to spend on gifts for two children at the Family Development Center who are in need of Christmas presents.
The trio are part of the silver house, a small learning community at RHS that, as teacher Rachel Jackson put it, teaches high school survival skills.
Seventy-six freshmen are in the silver house this year. Together the students learn reading and study skills, develop course plans and make friends with their classmates in a smaller environment as they slowly transition into the large school.
Part of the curriculum for the small learning communities is a community service project. This is the fourth year the silver house has raised money to fill out Christmas tree nethers for the families and children at the Family Development Center in Roseburg, which serves high-risk families and children 5 and younger.
The gold house, which has a friendly rivalry with the silver house, is doing a similar service project for the Christmas season and raised money for children's presents that the Salvation Army will hand out. Jackson said other freshmen houses had either completed their projects or would do them later in the year.
The teacher said the development center presentations to her classes always shock students as they learn of the great need in the county, and of the center's need for basic necessities such as diapers, shoes and socks.
Jackson said she's noticed the freshmen who enjoy the program the most are those in greatest need themselves, or those who have never been given money to shop for Christmas presents.
“This is the best part of my job,” Jackson said. “Teenagers get a bad rap for only being interested in themselves ... a lot of these (freshmen) are kids who have nothing.”
Through their own fundraising and a silver house walk-a-thon, the class earned the needed money to shop for 40 to 50 children.
One student, Natalie Stenbeck, ran the whole walk-a-thon in 30-degree weather, checking in at 46 laps — 11.5 miles — and earning a total of about $200 between her lap pledges, baby-sitting and other fundraising.
Though her classmates and teachers were amazed and some were already inflating her distance to 47 laps and higher, the cross country runner was unflapped by the fuss and called the jog a good workout.
“I've run in (the cold) enough I'm used to being frozen,” she said.
Earlier last week, Jackson had worried they wouldn't be able to meet their commitment to buy presents for the 40 kids they originally planned to include, as there was only $900 turned in last Monday.
By Wednesday, hustle from the students had brought that figure up to $2,000 and Jackson had received a pleading call from the center that 10 more children were in need of presents.
With a total of $2,400 — only $300 less than the silver house earned last year with 90 freshman — the students were set loose Friday morning at Fred Meyer.
“I'm glad we finally get to go shopping,” Alyxandra Mixer said. “That's the part I was really looking forward to.”
She and her shopping partner had already thrown some pants in their cart for a 2-year-old boy named Dick and they were on their way to find him a Hot Wheels car.
Julie Bell, manager at the local department store, had already set aside two checkout registers for the class. Staff members were standing by when the students trundled through the door with shopping carts and lists in hand.
School representatives contacted Bell several years ago when they first began the project and she was able to give them a discount — 15 percent off apparel, 10 percent of other items and another 10 percent off the entire purchase — which stretches the students' donation further.
Bell said her staff is always impressed with the behavior of the students and this year was no exception.
Polite and respectful didn't mean slow, though, and in short order the freshman were lining up to check in with their teachers to ensure their purchases matched up with the listed needs before they checked out.
“Excellent. Good budgeting,” Jackson told a pair of boys as they checked in with a pair of boots and several other gifts.
Other groups weren't so lucky. Sweatshirts were sent back to be replaced with coats or items that suited the children's needs better.
Despite the Lightning McQueen toy's assurances he was super cool and that other toys would eat his dust, the rumbling braggart was placed back on the shelf. O'Connell, Watson and Van Horn then continued shopping, tabulating their purchases with little blue calculators to ensure they got the best deal for their kiddos.
• You can reach reporter DD Bixby at 957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby@nrtoday.com.
One student, Natalie Stenbeck, ran the whole walk-a-thon in 30-degree weather, checking in at 46 laps — 11.5 miles — and earning a total of about $200 between her lap pledges, baby-sitting and other fundraising.
Though her classmates and teachers were amazed and some were already inflating her distance to 47 laps and higher, the cross country runner was unflapped by the fuss and called the jog a good workout.
“I've run in (the cold) enough I'm used to being frozen,” she said.
Earlier last week, Jackson had worried they wouldn't be able to meet their commitment to buy presents for the 40 kids they originally planned to include, as there was only $900 turned in last Monday.
By Wednesday, hustle from the students had brought that figure up to $2,000 and Jackson had received a pleading call from the center that 10 more children were in need of presents.
With a total of $2,400 — only $300 less than the silver house earned last year with 90 freshman — the students were set loose Friday morning at Fred Meyer.
“I'm glad we finally get to go shopping,” Alyxandra Mixer said. “That's the part I was really looking forward to.”
She and her shopping partner had already thrown some pants in their cart for a 2-year-old boy named Dick and they were on their way to find him a Hot Wheels car.
Julie Bell, manager at the local department store, had already set aside two checkout registers for the class. Staff members were standing by when the students trundled through the door with shopping carts and lists in hand.
School representatives contacted Bell several years ago when they first began the project and she was able to give them a discount — 15 percent off apparel, 10 percent of other items and another 10 percent off the entire purchase — which stretches the students' donation further.
Bell said her staff is always impressed with the behavior of the students and this year was no exception.
Polite and respectful didn't mean slow, though, and in short order the freshman were lining up to check in with their teachers to ensure their purchases matched up with the listed needs before they checked out.
“Excellent. Good budgeting,” Jackson told a pair of boys as they checked in with a pair of boots and several other gifts.
Other groups weren't so lucky. Sweatshirts were sent back to be replaced with coats or items that suited the children's needs better.
Despite the Lightning McQueen toy's assurances he was super cool and that other toys would eat his dust, the rumbling braggart was placed back on the shelf. O'Connell, Watson and Van Horn then continued shopping, tabulating their purchases with little blue calculators to ensure they got the best deal for their kiddos.
• You can reach reporter DD Bixby at 957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby@nrtoday.com.
