PELC Library

PELC Thanks Wildhorse Foundation & Others for Library Upgrade

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Kindergartners at the Pendleton Early Learning Center (PELC) have an upgraded school library with new shelving to display hundreds of new books, thanks to the Wildhorse Foundation and other donors.

On Thursday, May 8, 2025, PELC staff gathered in the library to thank the donors and celebrate the new space. The Wildhorse Foundation grant was for $10,000. Other funding came from Title 1A, a TAPP (Tribal Attendance Promising Practices) Grant, and Title VI.

Angela Lattin, Principal of the PELC, thanked the Wildhorse Foundation. “This grant, braided with the other funding sources, was really game-changing for our school library. If not for the grant, we would have spent the next 10 years working on these projects.”

Ella Meyers, representing the Wildhorse Foundation, said the organization is really honored to be involved in something that directly impacts the youth in Pendleton and especially the connection to tribal culture. “It’s wonderful to be attending this event today, and it’s really lovely to see it turn into reality,” Meyers said.

The funding made these projects possible:

  • 6 units of book shelving across stage area
  • 4 units of book shelving on west wall
  • Shelving units on front wall
  • 806 new books
  • Native American book section with 144 books written by Native authors or about Native American topics
  • Stuffed animal buddies that students can read with

Principal Lattin said the PELC’s library is well utilized by students. After doing some calculations, she said this school year, there were 6,437 student trips to the library and 3,145 opportunities for students to check out books.

PELC Library PELC Library

Karen Demianew

Congratulations, Karen Demianew

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CONGRATULATIONS to Karen Demianew!!! She is the CTE Career Guidance Counselor of the year for the State of Oregon.Karen Demianew Karen Demianew

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District Recommends New Sunridge Middle School Principal

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The Pendleton School District School Board will be asked at their next board meeting to approve the recommendation to hire Angie Horton to be the new principal of Sunridge Middle School, effective July 1st, 2025.

Horton is currently a principal in the Warrenton Hammond School District.  Horton has held Principal, Vice Principal, Behavior Support Classroom Teacher, and a 3rd Grade teacher positions in her district.  Before her time in Warrenton, she was a Child Treatment Specialist at the Grande Ronde Child Care Centre in La Grande.

Mrs. Horton attended Wallowa High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and business administration in 2001 from Eastern Oregon University, a master’s degree in Special Education in 2019 from Western Governor’s University, and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Western Governor’s University in 2022.

Mrs. Horton will officially take over as principal on July 1st.  She is replacing Principal, Piper Kelm, who is retiring effective June 30th.

Angie Horton

CTE AJ Nez

CTE Spotlight – AJ Nez

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Pendleton High School
2025 CTE Month Spotlight

Meet AJ Nez, Senior at Pendleton High School
She is taking classes in the Digital and Media Arts Pathway.

What do you enjoy about your CTE classes at PHS?
I enjoy being able to express my creativity in my work and being able to be my most authentic self.

How are CTE classes making a difference in your education?
I get to have a break from all my schoolwork to work on art. It is stress relieving so I’m not so foggy minded.

Would you like to share anything else about CTE at PHS?
PHS art classes have been my absolute favorite. Before high school, I felt I hadn’t been able to learn much about art and I felt put in a box. But now, I have learned so much in art class, and I get to use my creativity. I got to learn photography and work with Adobe software, which has definitely broadened my ability by a ton, and I discovered yet another medium I enjoy.

CTE AJ Nez

CTE Gaige Jordan

CTE Spotlight – Gaige Jordan

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Pendleton High School
2025 CTE Spotlight

Meet Gaige Jordan, Sophomore at Pendleton High School
He has taken Metals 1 and Metals 2, plus Multimedia Art, Foods 1 and Robotics.

What do you enjoy about your CTE classes at PHS?
I like the different activities we get to do. I also like the teachers because they make the class interesting.

How are CTE classes making a difference in your education?
They are enhancing my current life skills and teaching me more life skills.

Would you like to share anything else about CTE at PHS?
I highly recommend all of the CTE classes, especially if you want to enhance or learn new skills.

CTE Gaige Jordan

PHS CTE Abbey Prevot

CTE Spotlight – Abbey Prevot

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CTE Month 2025
Pendleton High School Spotlight

Meet Abbey Prevot, Digital & Media Arts Teacher

What do you teach?
I teach Multimedia Art, Visual Design Basics, Digital Art and Studio/Advanced Studio Art. Multimedia Art is a beginning, general art course. Visual Design Basics focuses on the design aspect of the artistic world, geared towards client/customer relationships. Digital Art is an advanced class that focuses on digital photography and Adobe programs for graphic design. Studio and Advanced Studio Art are for students who work independently on art projects throughout the year.

In your classes, what is the CTE focus for the 24-25 school year?
I am still strengthening and refining the foundations of my CTE program, which are connections with industry partners and creating curriculum with real-world simulations and practice.

Students engage with industry professionals through field trips to creative workplaces, gaining insight into careers in arts and graphic design. Our industry partners include Pendleton Center for the Arts, BMCC, Master Printers and Creative Signs.

We encourage students to enter pieces in local and regional art shows. Finally, students work on real-world simulated design challenges through TSA (Technology Student Association) competitions.

How do you think CTE work in your school is making a difference for students?
The Digital & Media Art CTE Pathway helps students build their portfolios, develop professional skills and explore potential career paths. We focus on collaborative teamwork and the design thinking process to help students develop soft skills such as communication and creative problem solving.

At times, students design for real events or publications, such as Main Street Show’s program cover and the Pendleton School District Art Show poster. I have seen the skills gained through CTE help prepare students for any industry. I love how CTE helps my students think outside of the classroom and prepares them for the workforce.

What is something people may not know about CTE in schools?
CTE is a crucial step toward making education more practical and aligned with the real job market and workforce training. Looking back at my own high school and college years, I wish there had been stronger connections between education and industry, as I felt unprepared for the workforce upon graduation.

CTE bridges that gap, ensuring that we, as educators, equip students with the skills and knowledge they need for their future careers—because, quite simply, it just makes sense.

PHS CTE Abbey Prevot

 

CTE PHS Adrie Fisher

CTE Spotlight – Adrie Fisher

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Pendleton High School
2025 CTE Month Spotlight

Meet Adrie Fisher, Senior at Pendleton High School
She takes classes in Advanced Metals and Vet Science.

What do you enjoy about your CTE classes at PHS?
I have been in welding classes since Freshman year and I have really enjoyed learning not only how to weld, but also how to wire multiple types of switches and learning lots of mechanical skills. A main part of my SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) is bumper making and other small welding projects. With the bumpers, the customer buys the kit and I weld it. I have enjoyed the creative aspect of that as well as the business aspect.

In Vet Science I have enjoyed learning about animals and how to care for them. I get to do hands-on activities such as pregnancy checking, giving vaccines and suturing. The class is very informative about what veterinarians do, and I am learning things I can take with me whether I become a vet or not.

How are CTE classes making a difference in your education?
In welding I am learning a handful of different things. Electricity will always be a part of my daily life and doing a unit on wiring has helped me to better understand how electricity works. Also in Vet Science, I am learning skills that I can take into the real world, like learning the behaviors of animals.

Would you like to share anything else about CTE at PHS?
My advisors are great! They are very intelligent about what they are teaching. They want to do hands-on activities with us and give us all the help we can get so we have a better understanding of what we are learning. They make it so fun and bring all students out of their comfort zones and get them involved. All the CTE classes at PHS are amazing and bring so many people in.

CTE PHS Adrie Fisher

Karen Demianew

CTE Spotlight – Karen Demianew

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Pendleton High School Spotlight
Meet Karen Demianew, Counselor at Pendleton High School

How does Karen support CTE at PHS?
Throughout her 27-year tenure at PHS, Karen has been a tireless champion of CTE, emphasizing the value of hands-on, practical education and its ability to provide students with real-world skills that enhance their readiness for the workforce. She has worked diligently to promote CTE as a viable and valuable option for all students, ensuring they can explore careers in fields such as healthcare, engineering, hospitality and tourism, multimedia arts, agriculture, and the trades.

How is her work making a difference for students?
Karen consistently demonstrates innovative approaches to career exploration and development. She has been instrumental in developing programs like Pendleton’s “School to Careers” that helps students explore a wide variety of careers through internships, apprenticeships, and partnerships with local businesses and industries.

Her ability to connect students with resources and opportunities outside the classroom has empowered them to make informed decisions about their futures.

Karen Demianew

CTE PHS Bailey Sitts

CTE Spotlight – Bailey Sitts

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Pendleton High School
2025 CTE Month Spotlight

Meet Bailey Sitts, Engineering Instructor at Pendleton High School

What do you teach? 
I teach the engineering pathway at PHS including Intro to Engineering Design, Digital Design and Production, Robotics and Aerospace.

In your classes, what is the CTE focus for the 24-25 school year? 
My focus is to work further within the Oregon Employability Skills curriculum and to further our Career Technical Student Organization connection through TSA by having more focus on my own involvement and student competition attendance.

How do you think CTE work in your school is making a difference for students? 
It is teaching students that all of the basics they have learned so far have a connection to real life. CTE is a wonderful bridge between basic education and technical skills that shows students how to apply what they’ve learned already to more specific and real circumstances while they explore their strengths and abilities before entering trade schools, the job market, military or college. CTE at PHS is making a difference by showing students they can do anything and that no job, school or skill is out of their reach.

What is something people may not know about CTE in schools? 
As a CTE teacher, I hear that our classes are “just electives” all too frequently; CTE is more than just an elective. CTE in schools is a necessary connection between professionals in the field, community, and students that is intended to build community connections and bring industry standard knowledge into the classroom for students.

Most CTE teachers are brought in from industry to teach what they know and bring a higher level work ethic and expectation into the classroom that more closely mirrors a workplace than a traditional classroom.

CTE PHS Bailey Sitts

 

Patrick Dutcher

PHS Principal Message

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Pendleton School District
107 NW 10th Street, Pendleton, OR 97801
Phone:  541.276.6711  Fax:  541.278.3208

The Pendleton School District assures that no person shall on the grounds of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability or income as provided by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and related authorities, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any Pendleton School District sponsored program or activity.

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