By Mary Pierce
Many Glenwood residents remember the late Frank Leaton, who grew up in Glenwood and graduated from high school here in 1972. After a long career in the Navy, Frank passed away in 2003. I’m sorry to share the news that his son recently passed away at age 50. Our condolences go to his family, including his sister Faye Neffe.
•••
Glenwood School’s 2026-27 school year started off with a very fun first few days. The staff had two great in-service days with Principal Bev, with a special gathering the afternoon of the 25th at the home of Tom and Molly Pierson. Some school board directors also attended while others were working that afternoon. I was out of town, but was very disappointed I wasn’t able to attend. Thank you, Tom and Molly for your thoughtfulness.
Wednesday, the first day of school, kicked off with lots of fun things for the students, including an assembly to go over some new attendance and other policies, with a fun backpack raffle facilitated by the Associated Student Body. Students received the schedules and had an exciting first three days of the school year. The great little Glenwood preschool started on Sept. 8.
I spoke to one elementary teacher at the end of the first week. I loved her high level of enthusiasm for a new year, new start, with new administrative staff in place. The school gained 11 new students and some returning students who had done some homeschooling for a while and chose to return to our school this year. It’s so good to see those great kids back in our school.
Principal Bev has published the first edition of the new school “newspaper,” The Eagle View. Hard copies are not available but a link to this wonderful, colorful, informative news report is available on the school website. If you want an in-depth look at how well the first week of school went, please download the link and save it in your browser. It’s so worth the read. One exciting event that occurred last week was a trip to the wildlife refuge for the Ecology students with teacher Sara McFall. You can see the report regarding what they learned and the work they did that day. I’m thankful our school offers this Ecology class as a science class choice. Many of us are looking forward to seeing what else the school year brings.
We have one high school cross country athlete, senior Anthony Avila, who has combined with the Trout Lake boys’ soccer team, now called the Mt. Adams Cross Country team. I’ll post some of their meet results as I receive them. Aaron Oldenburg is the coach on this end. I have to apologize. I didn’t learn the name of the team coach based in Trout Lake.
The Trout Lake/Glenwood volleyball team, Lakewood, had their first game Sept. 1 in Spray, Oregon. They played their first home game in Trout Lake on Sept. 3.
Jaecee Hoctor and Jade Deiders are this year’s coaches. Glenwood has five girls on the team: Jocee Hoctor, Kerryna Thompson, Brooklyn Branson, Dalylah Rains, and Della Fujita. They have a very full schedule this season and I’ll try to post when there are upcoming home games. You can also check the school website to get the schedules for both volleyball and cross country.
•••
Now, that was lots of “new school year” news. I did receive some more news about Glenwood kids who did well at the county fair last month. First, let me apologize to Wyatt Patterson. I reported that he showed a goat, but it was a pig for which he received a call back for the championship round.
Branch and Briscoe Monroe showed goats in the Peewee Class, for which they received blue ribbons. Branch also showed a heifer in the beef breeding stock category and received a blue. Austin Garrett was awarded the reserve champion ribbon in the swine market class category.
•••
In community news, I heard that some amazing repair and more restoration work is being done by a group of volunteers on the historic cabin on the Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge. I hope to have more information on the work being done out there soon. Volunteers are the ones who sure keep things moving when funding is tight nowadays and we thank them for what they do.
•••
Joslyn Arnold, who was/is a member of the Walla Walla Community College rodeo team, has competed in the breakaway roping event in rodeos all over the Pacific Northwest all year long. That girl is working hard as a member of the Northwest Pro Rodeo Association. Last weekend she placed ninth in the top 10 finishers and went away with a nice check at the Horse Heaven Rodeo in Kennewick. She split fourth place at the Bremerton rodeo. Congratulations, Joslyn. She’ll soon be competing in the pro rodeos in Ellensburg, Walla Walla, and Pendleton. Peyton Sanchey will also be competing at Pendleton. Sure proud of those Glenwood cowgirls.
•••
Mary Pierce writes about the community of Glenwood every other week in Columbia Gorge News. Please send any news items to gmpierce09@gmail.com.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.