We read news every day about local high school graduates who leave our area and do big, important things elsewhere. Every so often, though, they come back and do those big, important things right here.
Like in the case of St. Maries High School graduate, Chris Asbury.
Chris Asbury returned home this summer to fill a position as the principal/superintendent of the Avery-Calder-Clarkia school district.
After 13 years in education, Chris returns to the St. Maries area to manage the Avery-Calder-Clarkia School District. He graduated from SMHS in 1995 and comes back to us with a catalog of qualifications.
He earned his bachelor degree from Lewis Clark State College and masters in educational leadership from the University of Idaho. He’s certified in social studies and has taught special education. Chris has also coached varsity softball and worked as an assistant athletic director. He is currently working toward his second masters.
He worked for a year at Moscow High School before spending 12 years teaching and coaching in Mountain Home. For the past 15 years he has returned to the St. Maries area each summer to work for the Department of Lands fighting fire.
Chris decided to return home more permanently this summer when he was hired as the new superintendent for the district. He has a six-year-old daughter, Mia, and is the son of Ron and Maggie Asbury.
Small towns just get it.
We understand the importance of little things, things like charitable organizations and the civic-mindedness they promote and how, more often than not, volunteerism does not need to be mandated. Small towns are a constant reminder of how those little things end up becoming big things. Important things. Things that thread families, their histories and stories together.
Take Patty Boggs, for instance, and the important role that the Eagles Lodge played in her family’s narrative.
She remembers her mother rushing to meetings every other week and how, as a teenager, she learned to dance at events sponsored by the St. Maries lodge.
“We’d spend weekends picnicking together and went to all the teenage dances in the ‘50s,” she said. “It was like a big family.”
It wasn’t until after she was grown and married, though, that she joined and discovered what the Eagles was truly about. Originally, she had joined to satisfy a family member who had invited her to do so, but once initiated, her perspective changed.
“I found out how hard they worked for charity and continued to go,” she remembered.
Eagles Auxiliary officers include district chaplain Jan Doherty, past president Shirley Dugger, conductor Lou Epler, trustees Billie Machado and Patty Boggs, and secretary Juanita Jack. Those note pictured include inside guard Ruby Toland, president Freda Albert, treasurer Margie Bonds, trustee Lynne Linnemeyer, vice president Jodi Harpole, chaplain Frances McDowell and district/state trustee Chris Hill.
She and a group of other active members gathered to commemorate their history and honor past and present presidents and their 86th anniversary celebration this week. The ladies’ chapter of the local lodge began in 1927; since then 22 presidents have served the group. Today the auxiliary has 189 members, 79 of which are older than 75 years. Its longest living member is Ruby Toland, who has been active in the group for 66 years.
But that’s not all.
The Auxiliary anniversary is one of three celebrations the Eagle’s Lodge has planned over the next several weeks.
The centennial anniversary celebration of the local lodge is Oct. 18. Local members have been working hard to remodel the lounge in preparation for the celebration, including the installation of a new floor, lighting and painting.
Additionally, the lodge will host the annual Idaho State Mid-Winter. The gathering of all the district and state officers from the area is Nov. 1,2 and 3 in St. Maries.
“This is only the second time in 20 or 30 years we’ve hosted the meeting,” said Dale Hill, Aerie Secretary and state and District 3 treasurer for the organization.
Officers award grants to various lodges that have submitted applications over the past year to support projects at the gathering. This year the St. Maries lodge has applied for a few grants, including one to pay for a kitchen upgrade for the Senior Meal Site, one for the M. “Blackie” Floyd Alzheimer’s fund and another from the Golden Eagle Fund to give to the local chapter of hospice.
Lots of really, really good things coming from a small group of hard-working volunteers over a very long period of time. Definitely something to celebrate, small-town style.
Ginger Carpenter, a long-time St. Maries resident, is one of 21 people chosen from across the country to serve on an advisory committee that provides recommendations on rural health and human services issues.
The National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services was created in 1987 to advise the Secretary of the Department of Heath and Human Services on ways to address health care problems in ruralAmerica. The group meets four times each year.
Ms. Carpenter was chosen because of her expertise in nursing, health administration and her experience working with the Human Resources and Service Administration.
Ginger Carpenter was appointed to a national rural health advisory board last month. She is one of 21 members who will serve a four-year term on the committee.
She has worked in rural health since 1985. She began her career working at Benewah Community Hospital as a nurse, and after receiving her master’s in administration from Gonzaga University, she worked for Benewah Medical Center. In 2010 she became a nursing instructor at North Idaho College. She now teaches the certified nursing assistant class at Valley Vista Care.
I know it seems like we tell you to get here for some type of event nearly every weekend, but it’s for your own good. And this weekend is no different.
Harrison’s Sixth Annual Oktoberfest is from 1 to 7 p.m. Saturday in Harrison’s City Park – rain or shine.
The event is sponsored by the Harrison Chamber of Commerce and benefits the Fourth of July Fireworks, the Summer Concert Series and other chamber products.
Plus, it’s just plain fun.
According to event organizer Teri Riberich, more than 800 glasses were sold at the 2012 Oktoberfest (pictured here). The annual event is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 5 and will run from 1 to 7 p.m.
And the scenery couldn’t be better: Harrison’s City Park is located just up the hill from Harrison City Beach and, as all you geography buffs are probably already figuring out, gives way to a beautiful view of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Throw in a few red- and orange-tipped trees and – blamo! – pure North Idaho autumn beauty.
Add food booths, children’s craft tables and the microbrew sampling stations, and you’ve got yourself a lakeside town’s take on Oktoberfest.
The cost for adults to sample the beer is $10, which includes four beer tickets and a souvenir glass. Participating breweries include Wallace Brewing Company, Trickster’s, North Idaho Mountain Brew, Idaho Hops, Payette and Crooked Fence.
There will be a painting table and games for children and a scavenger hunt for both kids and adults. The hunt will lead participants to local businesses.
Music will be performed throughout the day and KY102 Radio will broadcast from the event.
Did we mention the lake would serve as the backdrop?
It isn’t unheard of for our newspaper to be filled with features about local youngsters doing big, important things. But that doesn’t mean those accomplishments should be looked at as pedestrian because of the frequency of their occurrence. On the contrary. They should be highlighted.
And are, as evidenced by a recent issue that detailed two students from two different high schools achieving greatness in two very different fields of study.
First up, representing the left side of the brain:
A Kootenai High School student was one of 16,000 high school seniors named to the 2014 list of semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Shannon Riley said she was surprised to hear she earned the honor. The list represents less that one percent of high school seniors nationwide.
Shannon Riley was one of 16,000 seniors selected as a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program. She is a senior at Kootenai High School.
More than one million juniors from more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2012 Preliminary SAT/Nation Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. While she didn’t think she would do well enough to qualify for the program, Shannon said she does typically do well on standardized tests. She is now working with the school to submit a detailed scholarship application in order to compete for a spot as a finalist.
To become a finalist, a student must submit an application that includes information about his or her academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, honors and awards received. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance.
Shannon is the daughter of Lisa Hawdon and Dennis Riley, and she said she has plans to attend college and study biology after graduation.
And a quick flip through the pages of the newspaper shows how diverse the areas of achievement are, transitioning from science to a more right-brain dominated field, music.
Dylan Miller has earned the distinction as one of the most talented young musicians in the region. The St. Maries Middle School eighth graders has been accepted into the Coeur d’Alene Youth Orchestra. Only the most gifted young musicians from throughout northern Idaho and the Spokane area qualify to play with the prestigious group.
This is not only a first for a St. Maries student, but the manner in which Dylan earned the honor may also be a first for the orchestra.
Dylan Miller, with his instructor Jim Broyles, was accepted into the Coeur d'Alene Youth Orchestra after only two years working with the violin.
Dylan took fewer than two years to gain enough proficiency with the violin to earn a seat with the orchestra. He is the only student in the orchestra with fewer than two years of practice. Most begin with their instruments in third or fourth grade and are not accepted into the orchestra until high school.
The Coeur d’Alene Youth Orchestra performs three concerts a year and participates in competition in western Washington annually. Its next performance is at 7 p.m. Nov. 25 at the Kroc Center in Coeur d’Alene.
Dylan is the son of Brian and Jenifer Miller of St. Maries and has a 10-year-old sister Kirsten.
