The Sisters GRO program presented scholarship winners with symbolic pine trees to plant and watch grow. photo provided
The Sisters GRO program presented scholarship winners with symbolic pine trees to plant and watch grow. photo provided
BBR Art Guild awards four scholarships
By Oenta Gentry



Lynda Sullivan, Chairman of the BBR Art Guild, awarded four $1,000 scholarships to qualifying Sisters High School seniors last Tuesday.

This is the 10th year the art guild has given scholarships to Sisters High School graduating seniors. They gave out $500 in scholarships their first year and this year gave $4,000 in total.

The art guild does more than just raise funds. Students go through a stringent qualification process. Each year panelists have to make the tough choice of how to disperse the funds.

"It was generous of them to distribute the funds four ways rather than giving it all to just one student," said Janet Brockway, artist, and mother of one of the recipients, Loryn Cummins.

They award the scholarships to kids who will continue to have art in their lives, but it is not necessary to choose art as a career.

"Because it's visual art, it's in their presentation, their portfolio, their passion for art, and they must demonstrate that they want art to be in their life," Sullivan said. "Need is not one of our criteria."

Recipients must do more than demonstrate their artistic skills. They must show they are also good citizens.

"One criteria is what are they also doing in the community, so they must show they are all active in school," Sullivan said. "We do look at their SAT scores, because we want to be sure they are going to be a success. We look at their written recommendations and it's nice if it's from their art teacher.

"SHS has been fortunate to have Mr. Baynes," Sullivan said. "He instills a love of art and the opportunity to express so many styles. They learn to incorporate art not only into their schooling but into their lives."

Rachel Lovegren, Alyssa Eby, Cindy Steele, and Loryn Cummins, all students in Mike Baynes' art class, are this year's recipients of the BBR Art Guild scholarships. They each presented their portfolios differently to the panel of four judges on the Art Guild panel.

"We grade the applicants on a scale from 1 to 5, five being highest, immediately after we interview them," Sullivan said. "This year's students were all 5s.

Rachel Lovegren presented her portfolio on CD utilizing Windows Movie Maker to show slides of her four years of high school art projects.

"I had a few slides from eighth grade. I've been taking digital pictures of all my pieces, so I put together a video slideshow for each year which shows how all my art has morphed through the years," Lovegren said. "It was a fun realization to see how far I've come."

Lovegren plans to attend College of the Ozarks in Missouri and major in studio arts and visual arts with a minor in teaching.

"I hope to teach art someday and open my own gallery," Lovegren said.

Recipient Alyssa Eby plans to go to the University of Oregon in Eugene.

"I took a bunch of jewelry pieces made over the last four years and displayed the pieces in shadow boxes," Eby

said.

Eby has commuted from Redmond to attend school in Sisters for four years and she and her parents said viewing the art room during a tour of the school was the catalyst that formed their decision for Eby to attend school in Sisters.

Cindy Steele plans to attend school at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

"Mr. Baynes has been quite an inspiration, and I would love to follow in his footsteps," said Steele. "What scares me is being a professional artist and not wanting to sell out."

Steele showed pictures of her work to the panel and set up a display at the high school of some of her pieces. Pottery is her passion, and her teacher, Mike Baynes, helped her develop that passion.

"I went to a different school my freshman year," Steele said, "and the difference with Baynes is that he teaches you how to become better."

The fourth artist chosen to receive a BBR Art Guild scholarship was Loryn Cummins. Cummins plans to attend Prescott College in Arizona.

Cummins presented a variety of her work.

"I put together a collection of my art pieces created throughout high school," Cummins said. "I had some ceramic pieces, pen and ink, multimedia, oil pastels, and colored pencil and showed them off in a display at the school."

Cummins plans to major in psychology and art.

"I would like to work in an alternative education program utilizing the outdoors and art," Cummins said.

Guild member Ruth Ingham was on the selection panel. "They were all very outstanding, well qualified, and had high goals in the art world," Ingham said. "They are some of the strongest we've interviewed through the years."

"I want to thank the BBR Art people for all the money they've donated to my students over the years," said Baynes.

"To honor art and say it's important enough to go on is important. It's a tough go in the arts," he added.
The celebration of Sisters High School Students Class of 2010 proved to be a memorable evening as students, parents, families and community members gathered last week to celebrate the successes of the approximate 135 students who will graduate on June 4.

Despite hard economic times, the community of Sisters showed its generosity, distributing for the sixth year in a row over $100,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors. Six more

scholarships were awarded this year compared to last year, and many organizations increased the amount of their scholarships over last year.

GRO (Graduate Resource Organization) and the Sisters High School administration and staff co-sponsored the event. GRO, founded by Karen Hensley, is a non-profit organization with a mission: "Sisters' Graduate Resource Organization recognizes that a vibrant community fosters the dreams, ambitions and goals of its young people. We are dedicated to the growth of our community's future by championing post-high-school education through scholarships and graduate support programs. By investing in Sisters graduates, we invest in our community."

GRO greeted the donors with appreciation packages as they entered, and guests were offered hors d'oeuvres and punch as well.

Hensley said, "The appreciation packs for the donors was just a little gesture to let them know how much we appreciate them supporting the kids. It's all for the pureness of doing good things. I'm excited to be able to do these details for the donors, and the students are

benefitting."

Forty-one students were awarded scholarships, and presenters noted what a difficult time they had in choosing the recipients.

Zander Albertson, along with Parker Bennett, distinguished themselves as recipients of the Ford Family Scholarship which pays for 90 percent of their college needs after the expected family contribution and other monetary awards have been deducted.

Albertson, who also earned The Nugget Newspaper Student of the Year Scholarship, said, "It's humbling and honoring to have all this support from the community. It was a very rewarding evening."

Zander will be attending Southern Oregon University, as it is the only state school that offers photojournalism as a major.

Bennett said, "The Ford Scholarship will definitely make a big difference. Without it I'd be very much in debt after four years. And, I'm so very thankful for how generous our community was with the local scholarships, and it was nice to meet the donors and see how happy and willing they were to give the scholarships.

"I was also amazed at how many from the community came out to support and congratulate us," said the SHS track star. "It was almost like winning a race."

Parker will head to Willamette University in the fall and will run both cross country and track. He is still undecided in a major.

Austin Erlandson and Emily Rickards were recipients of the $12,500 Weitzman Scholarship, along with other scholarships as well. Both were overwhelmed by the scholarship money they received and were very thankful.

Erlandson was so overcome with emotion upon receiving the $12,500 Weitzman Scholarship he was moved to tears.

"Literally, I think this was the first time I've publically been brought to tears," said Erlandson. "It was so unexpected. Because of this I'll be able to attend Belmont all four years. The scholarship money from tonight will take care of all my out-of-pocket expenses, which is huge!"

Rickards reflected on the entire night.

"Walking into school tonight was incredible, and it was so exciting for me to see all my classmates receive awards," said Rickards. "I feel so blessed to be a part of this community and to have built such great relationships with the staff and students at this school. I didn't expect to receive all the scholarships I did but I feel greatly honored. They will all play a huge part of furthering my college education at Seattle Pacific."

High school principal Bob Macauley told The Nugget that this night is one of his favorite events of the entire year.

Macauley said, "The night for me is an especially touching night. I get to see the incredible amount of work behind the scenes, GRO, Aspire, teachers and the front office. I see the joy that this amount of work brings to the hearts of families of students headed to college. This is just another community event in Sisters that again defines our community and the care we have towards raising our children."

Donors also commented on the evening.

Lance Trowbridge, who presented the Bill Edwards Alumni Spirit Scholarship, said, "This school is a very special place. If you talk to parents whose kids have gone here they comment on how proud they are of the quality of education and the excellent staff from the administration down. They say SHS gives kids the opportunity to excel in their own character and we all see it in their championship spirit."

Brad Bullock, presenter of the SHS Volleyball Scholarship, stated, "The most rewarding thing for me is seeing the kids eventually give back. It might not be just in our community, but it comes back somewhere and many times over. I've seen it happen over and over again."

The celebration ended with a new tradition. Seniors filed up to the podium one by one, gave their name and the college they would be attending and GRO presented each graduate with a pine tree wrapped in a black and white scarf.

Hensley said, "We (GRO) went to a lot of work to get the donation of the pine trees for the graduates. They were presented as a sendoff gift as a symbol to remind them of this transition in their life. We encourage the kids to plant the trees and watch them grow, and as the trees grow be reminded that they themselves are growing too."

Conor Greaney and Bryant Lasken took over 300 pictures over the course of the evening. They will be posted on the GRO Web site, www.sistersgro.com, and also sent to the donors in a Smile Box.