The Applegater

Applegater Summer 2022 23 NEXT GENERATION | SCHOOL NEWS Applegate School welcomes new PE teacher, Mrs. Baer BY JEAN HALL The Hidden Valley High School (HVHS) varsity girls' basketball team kept the school spirit high this spring as they made a strong showing at the state 4A tournament. After a respectable season, going 15 wins and 12 losses overall in the regular season (7-3 in conference play), the Lady 'Stangs had to win a "play-in" game against McLoughlin High School from Milton-Freewater to earn a spot in the 4A playoffs. HVHS beat McLoughlin handily, winning 57-32 and advancing to their first-round match-up, seeded 13th, playing the number-four seed Junction City in Junction City. Against the odds, the Lady 'Stangs won, 51-42, and they were off to the state tournament at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay. Hidden Valley's quarter-final opponent was perennial powerhouse Marist Catholic High School, out of Eugene, seeded 12th in the playoffs. e late afternoon game between the evenly matched teams was hard-fought, but HVHS took an early lead and never lost it. Skyline conference Defensive Player of the Year Teryn Powers was named the Moda Health Player of the Game for HVHS. e 41-34 win moved Hidden Valley into the semifinals, where their opponent would be the number one seed in the 4A tournament, Philomath. Philomath took an early lead and led the entire game. ey dominated the key, scoring 24 points in the paint, and 18 second-chance points from their offensive rebounding. Philomath went on to win in the finals and become the 2022 4A State Champions. ey had an excellent team on the court and proved to be more than our Lady 'Stangs could handle. Skylar Willey, the Skyline Player of the Year, was named Hidden Valley's Player of the Game by Moda Health. Hidden Valley had one more game to play, this one to determine the third- and fifth-place teams in the tournament. eir final opponent was the number-seven seed, Madras High School. is game was extremely tight and competitive, with seven lead changes, and the score tied four different times. Hidden Valley played hard right to the very end, scoring their last field goal with just five seconds on the clock. Unfortunately, Madras had the fourth- quarter lead and won the game 48-41. Hidden Valley finished the tournament as the fifth-place team. is time, Sana Noga was HVHS's Moda Health Player of the Game. Hidden Valley senior Skylar Willey has been named to the Oregon Basketball Coaches Association 4A Girls All-State First Team and invited to play in the 2022 Senior All-Star Series, June 17 and 18, at Corban University in Salem. Skylar, the 2022 Skyline Player of the Year, averaged 14 points per game, along with 11 rebounds, three assists, and three steals. She has decided to play basketball next year at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay. Teryn Powers, Hidden Valley senior and Skyline Defensive Player of the Year for 2022, was selected for the Honorable Mention All-State team. Teryn averaged 13 points a game, four rebounds, and three steals. She will play ball next year for Lane Community College in Eugene. Lisa Baldwin leb.97527@gmail.com Hidden Valley High School girls' basketball team makes state tournament run BY LISA BALDWIN The HVHS girls basketball team: in front, from left, are Hannah Rommes, Delaney Skinner, Teryn Powers, Skylar Willey, Sana Noga, Hannah Bennett, and Gina Hoxsey. In back are Jia Bents, Morgan Tiffin, Noelle Lowery, Ashley Yunker, and Jasmine Kelly. Spring at Applegate School finds staff and students involved in new activities, new learning, and new discoveries. e Applegate community is richly blessed to hold this center of creativity, dedication, and life-enhancement. Mrs. Halsted reports that students are loving their new physical education (PE) teacher, Mrs. Baertschiger, or Mrs. Baer, as the children call her. ey learned how to exercise their bodies, play games, solve problems, and work as a team with such games as badminton and pickleball. Most importantly, Mrs. Baer emphasizes, "they are discovering that being active, having fun, and working on big and small motor skills keep us healthy, happy, and ready to learn." Mrs. Hirschmugl's and Mrs. Halsted's classes worked in their school garden with the help of folks from White Oaks Farm. K-3 students did some weeding and started many kinds of seeds indoors for plants to transplant to the garden. K-1 classes visited White Oaks Farm on May 3, learning about sustainable agriculture, visiting farm animals, and engaging in farm activities. Another spring event for K-1 students was to have an incubator in the classroom for hatching baby chicks. Mrs. Hirschmugl taught these students the life cycle of a chicken, incorporating science lessons, art, reading, and writing into this fun project. Second- and third-graders learned about plant and animal diversity before taking a field trip to Wildlife Safari. K-1 students joined Mrs. Halsted's class for a visit to the Applegate library and the fire station in mid May. Mr. Scull's fourth- and fifth-graders worked on science fair projects in March. Nine of the students went to the district science fair, where they fared very well. ree fifth-graders and one fourth-grader worked hard to prepare for competition in the district Battle of the Books. ey had 16 books to read and discuss. Congratulations to all these hard-working scientists and readers! In the month of May, Mr. Scull took his class to hike Upper Table Rock for firsthand experience of some of the ecology they have been studying. ey examined the four different habitats found on the trail. Mr. Scull is glad to see students' faces now that masking guidelines have relaxed. "It is easy to forget how much our communication relies on facial expressions until we are in a situation like the one we have been in the last couple of years," he says. In the middle school classes, Mr. Fall reports that the sixth-graders completed a unit on Growth of Organisms and were provided with more than 100 acorn seedlings to plant on campus. "What a great way to wrap up this unit—planting trees that will hopefully grow into beautiful oak trees one day!" Mr. Fall said. Mr. Fall also studied the formation of the universe and solar system with his seventh- and eighth-graders. He describes the study as a great opportunity for the students "to take a step back and look outside our little southern Oregon bubble and ponder the vastness of the universe of which we are part." " The middle school has been a whirlwind of activity lately," reports Mrs. Gourley. All grades have enjoyed the popcorn that student leaders sold on ursdays. Delighted to have their first spring dance in three years, middle school student leaders did a phenomenal job planning and carrying out the event. With the theme of disco, students came dressed in their very best and danced the evening away to some of the great disco hits. In Mrs. Kappen's art class, students designed and created plaster gauze masks. ey planted cosmos, marigold, and parsley seeds in the greenhouse and drew five local wildflowers using pencil, ink, and colored pencils and labeling each flower with its scientific and common names. As the year winds down, several activities are in the planning stage, such as field trips and the eighth-grade moving-on ceremony. "I am incredibly proud of all our eighth-graders," Mrs. Gourley says. "ey have worked hard, and I know they will go on and be successful in high school and beyond. ey are each unique, and I love that they are genuinely themselves. ey have a lot to offer this world." Jean Hall jhall80@juno.com Battle of the Books competitors (front row from left to right): Henry Delgado, Xavier Gonzalez Cueva, Byron Hill, and Reishi Cookson. Back row: Mr. Scull. ■ WILLIAMS STORE Continued from page 5 at was it. Tom and Heather left their jobs in Portland, moved with their two teenage sons to Williams, and Tom put his dream to the test. "It felt like coming home," he says. "ere's something about being a part of the community through the store, about being a part of the history of the store. I love its old creaky floors, the old signs that advertise cigarettes. ey're not relevant, but I can't make myself take them down. A bunch of money doesn't mean anything. What's important is that people know who you are." Tom likes to compare the Williams Store to a chihuahua, a little dog that wants to act like a big dog. "is is a little store that doesn't know it's little," he says. While being cognizant and respectful of the history of the store, Tom and Heather have also made changes. ey brought in a three-tier cheese case and a cooler for fresh meat, and they offer Starbucks coffee. ey have both organic and regular food options and local produce in season. ey replaced the old gas pumps with new ones, drained and paved the parking lot, and built a back porch with a door that duplicates the front door of the Chambers era. e store has 10 employees, all local residents. "It's the employees who help make the store what it is," Heather says. "They make all the difference." at drew a response from one of those employees as she walked past: "And Heather and Tom are the best bosses in the world." Diana Coogle dicoog@gmail.com Quasquicentennial celebration set for September Heather and Tom are full of plans for the quasquicentennial on September 18: a jumpy house and an obstacle course for the kids, and, for the adults, wine tasting and a trivia game with questions about the store. Heather will make 125 cupcakes to give away, and there will be a history display. (If you have old pictures, contact the store!) Tom is working on a website to publicize the history, including such bits as that the original store was probably close to where Williams Elementary School is now. It is said that the building was moved on logs to its current location in 1908. Look for more details in the fall Applegater coming out September 1.

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