REBECCAH

High School: Riverdale Highschool

Career Aspiration: Real Estate Broker

Leadership & Legacy Project:

My Leadership and Legacy Project was inspired by my love of kids. I truly adore children. Throughout fall and winter term I had the opportunity to spend time working in the Marylhurst preschool, specifically with the Chickadee class. My mentor, Rachel Fredricks, the lead teacher and Head Start coordinator for Marylhurst, helped me plan a weekly time to be in the Chickadee class helping the three and four-year-olds with whatever they needed. My Legacy piece emerged from these weekly interactions and observations. What I observed, and then discussed with my mentor, was the need for a piece of outdoor equipment that allowed for further imaginary play. After many meetings throughout the winter months, with both Rachel and my Advisor Emily, I began to sketch different workbenches. I thought of creating a potting bench or a bench for tools. But, after much discussion, we decided what would be best would be a multi-purpose bench. This spring I refined my drawings, created a materials list, and gathered supplies from Home Depot. I plan on dedicating my bench to the preschool this summer when it is safe to do so. I also plan to include my design and materials list just in case other people would like to make a similar bench. For the written portion of my project I researched state and local standards. I then created a lesson plan which was complete with standards for math, social studies, science, and literacy. As part of my lesson I had the opportunity to read, “The Hungry Caterpillar” to the Chickadees while we are all under “Stay At Home'' orders. I will use the plans I created to help me implement the lessons as part of the classroom teaching, and will be leaving my lesson plan behind for other teachers to build lessons from.

Favorite Memory:

My favorite Marylhurst memory is of the camping trip to the town of Spray, which is in the middle of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. We sat around the campfire telling each other what we had enjoyed and had learned about ourselves that day. We roasted marshmallows and ate s’mores, and then we sang a song for Mary with all of her quotes.

Tips for younger students:

“Mistakes are part of life. Making mistakes helps you grow as a person.”

LIAM

High School: Alliance Charter Academy

Career Aspiration: Maritime Welder, perhaps even underwater welding

Leadership & Legacy Project:

I am interested in woodworking and working with my hands. So, for my Leadership and Legacy Project I chose to create a sign for the new Marylhurst School building using woodworking techniques. These techniques included creating inlays, routing letters and jointing boards together, and using power tools like a miter saw, table saw, planer, and router.  My sign will hang in the main office and have inlays of the four birds that represent the three primary classes and the middle school. For the written portion of my project, I am creating an instruction manual on how to build a custom sign. While working on this project with my mentor, Ross Quackenbush, I learned how important it is to plan ahead and get started early because a lot of woodworking is trial and error, and I learned a lot from my mistakes. I learned how to safely use power tools and feel comfortable enough around them to start working on some of my own projects, once I have finished my sign.

Favorite Memory:

I have been at Marylhurst since I was in Kindergarten so I have a lot of great memories, but my favorite memory is of my first class camping trip at Milo McIver State Park when I was in third grade. I met my best friend, Anders in first grade. We were already good friends but I think this trip really made us close and bonded our friendship. The camping trip was also the first time I had ever slept away from home without my parents and I was really nervous. But, I decided to go anyway. The teachers understood I was nervous and were supportive of me while we were there and told me that I could come and get them in their tents anytime I needed to in the night.

Tips for younger students:

“As you move up through the grades, make sure you still have fun even though the workload increases. It’s okay to goof around sometimes and enjoy a good laugh with your friends.”

CLAIRE

High School: Riverdale

Career Aspiration: Therapist/Photographer/Science Teacher/An Actor

Leadership & Legacy Project:

Originally, I was planning on doing a project that focused on birth photography. I was going to attend a birth with my mentor, Jen Berryman, and learn how to work in that environment. Unfortunately, I had to change gears on my project because of social distancing orders and increased hospital regulations that made it impossible for anyone, besides medical professionals and immediate family, to be in the room during birth. I am now making a photography book to document the impact of coronavirus in Portland. It will include both photographs and writing around those photographs. I have spent time learning about the exposure pyramid, how to compose a photograph, how to use a DSLR camera, and how to capture a meaningful photograph. Jen Berryman is an established doula/birth photographer. I have spent time talking with her about the importance of photographing a moment. She has taught me so much about how to be a good photographer. I have really enjoyed working with a camera and I plan to continue photographing my surroundings in the future.

Favorite Memory:

I have so many meaningful memories from my time at Marylhurst, but some of my favorites have been the middle school plays, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Spoon River Anthology.” I loved the feeling of excitement minutes before the performances, but my favorite part was the feeling of an intimate closeness with each of my classmates during and after the production. We worked so hard for hours and hours towards a common goal and the culmination of our efforts brought us together in an incomprehensible way. In the days after the performances we were left with a newly realized appreciation for one another and that experience has been incredibly important to me.

Tips for younger students:

“Be You!”

ANNELIESE

High School: St. Mary's Academy

Career Aspiration: Wildlife Rehabilitator/ Stop Motion Animator

Leadership & Legacy Project:

I had trouble at first finding a topic - I had a lot of options - but I decided to do digital animation as I had seen exhibits at OMSI of how they were created. I was mentored by Chris Ohlgren, one of the animators at HouseSpecial. Halfway through the year we decided to switch tracks to stop motion animation, as we had better tools, and this was simply more reasonable for the time span. My legacy aspect will be the stop motion itself, called “One Grain of Rice”, a story about multiplying, that I felt tied into the coronavirus.

Favorite Memory:

I have a lot, but I especially love one from last year. Zoe and I had finished the math assignment for that morning early and, for the rest of the day were allowed to take care of two baby rabbits that another teacher had found. We named them Dwight and Bethan and we still have pictures.

Tips for younger students:

“Know your friends, and keep in mind what you need from them and what they need from you.”