Coos Bay students beautify Sisters

A group of young people from Coos Bay came to Sisters last week to help the Sisters Garden Club with their annual beautification project at both entrances to town. They are part of Upward Bound, which is a college prep program for low-income first-generation college-bound high school students from ages 14 to 17.

This is part of their six-week Summer Academy where they get to choose a different project each summer that involves giving back to the community. Their supervisor, Grant Gill, had a lot of positive things to say about his group.

"Some of these kids haven't had much parental supervision and have moved around a lot," he said. "This program gives them opportunities to explore and discover their passions. They are learning to follow directions, take ownership, work as a team, plan ahead, to be respectful and to succeed beyond what they've been led to believe they could."

Larry Nelson, president of Sisters Garden Club, gave the students a little pep talk starting at the east end of town and thanked them for their service then assignments were handed out - first being, grab a shovel and fill the wheelbarrows from the pile of bark mulch to spread around after the areas are cleared and the shrubs trimmed.

Honora Buell, who had been a substitute high school math and science teacher when this job came up, is the new director of the program for North Bend and Marshfield high schools in Coos Bay.

She said, "This is such a unique opportunity for students to be able to get one-on-one attention to encourage them to go to college. Their parents didn't have this experience, so this gives them a head start on applying to college and working toward a degree."

She has 50 students during the school year and 35 during the summer, and the program is run under a federal grant through Portland State University.

Diana Collins, who will be a senior at Marshall High School this year, said she "wasn't doing well as a freshman; then I started talking with Honora and she helped me get my head straight. She told me not to give up on myself and to always have hope for a better future. Now I look forward to going to college to study culinary arts and hospitality. My dream is open a coffee shop and hire homeless people."

The group camped in Tumalo during the week they were in town and got to visit some of the places they mapped out to see in Sisters Country. Their next stop will have them staying in a college dorm at Southwestern Oregon Community College back in Coos Bay and visiting classes so they can experience life on a college campus.