Youths in community impress
An empty-nester whose grandsons live in other states, I don’t spend a lot of time with young people so this past week was a treat.
On Wednesday I was part of a judging team put together by Mark Jones of the Post Falls School District. Our mission was to visit Mullan Trail, West Ridge and Prairie View elementary schools and Frederick Post Kinder Center to select the most spirited and inclusive demonstration of how the students were engaged in the annual food drive for the Post Falls Food Bank. Fellow judges Warren Merritt, Chris Pappas, Todd Tondee, John Gift, Jaymee Paul and I were joined by Spokane Chiefs mascot Boomer as we made our school visits.
What fun to see how these elementary school students and their teachers embraced the challenge of encouraging food donations but also learning about nutrition and the issue of hunger in our community. The student leaders at each elementary school were impressive and along with their principals worth mentioning here — West Ridge Elementary: Principal Lisa Hoffeld, student council Brooklyn DeBoer, Ashleigh Wraith, Emma Thomas, Daniel Schlothauer and Noelle Woodard; Prairie View elementary: Principal Janelle Baker, student council Gabriel Cooley, Baylee Landis, Shauna Cozza, Jesus Gutierrez and Luke Schutte; Mullan Trail Elementary: Principal Katrina Kelly, student council Madison Barkley, Logan Johnson, Logan Clark, Dylan Clark, Olivia Kraak and Jagger Johnson. The Kinder Center principal is James Shepard.
At the end of the day, the Mullan Trail Elementary team took top honors in the spirit category and Frederick Post Kinder Center was No. 1 in number of pounds of food collected with 3,526 pounds. Overall, 11,243 pounds of food were collected by the six Post Falls K-5 schools during the two weeks prior to Memorial Day. During the 2015-16 school year all of the schools, including the middle schools and high school contributed 19,633 pounds of food for the food bank. Thanks to all!
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Thursday through Sunday I was on duty at the Jacklin Arts & Culture Center so I had the pleasure of spending time with the young men from Immaculate Conception Academy while they rehearsed and performed "The Gondoliers." I was amazed at the talent and dedication these teens displayed and thoroughly enjoyed their company over the four days. On Memorial Day I saw several of the ICA boys at the observance at Evergreen Cemetery with American Legion Post 143. The choir from St. Dominic’s Girls School performed beautiful patriotic hymns and were a wonderful addition to the program. The schools can be proud of the representation of these young people in our community.
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‘Tis the season for those who own RVs and travel trailers to put them to use. As an FYI, in both Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene any vehicle, including RVs, can only remain parked on a city street for 24 hours. The bad guys tend to take note when people are loading up getting ready to head out of town, making your home vulnerable to burglaries. If you’re going to be on vacation you can also contact either PD so they can make patrol officers aware the homeowner is out of town.
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The first 90+ degree temps forecast for this weekend and I’m sooooo ready. Remind me I said this when the dog days of summer are here and I’m melting.
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Happy first day of June birthdays today to Sandy Shopbell, Dave Stutzke, Shannon Coles, Debbie Costa, Patrick Booth, Drake Foster, Mike Alexander, Tresa Brown and Vicki White (60!).
Sharing June 2 birthdays are Al Williams, Mitch Alexander, Nancy Mueller, Brenda Walters, Irene Seidler and Nels Jensen.
On Friday JoAnn Nelson, Scott Osburn, Matthew Huthinson, Kathy Larson, Devin Heilman, Sharon Timmons, Susan Mensching and Matt Boseth take another trip around the sun.
On Saturday Natalie Wyant, Lynsie Odd, Jay Sadler, Kirk Dady, Jessica Downs and Nikki Downs will celebrate.
Evelyn Bevacqua Howe, Harold Appleby, Jr., Joel Semanko, Helen Elder, Dale Rounsville, Ron Hodge and JaNee Newby (75!) have birthdays on Sunday.
On Monday the partiers will be Dallas Dixon, DeDe Tondee, Don Wilhelm, Kim Normand and Wendy English.
On June 7 my better half and best friend Bert along with Brad Corkill, Rick Alden, Susan Lewis and John Hough are blowing out the candles.
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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.