Moses Lake High School students lend a hand on Dr. Seuss Day
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 9 months AGO
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | March 5, 2020 11:51 PM
MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake High School student and FFA chapter member Parker Visker said Dr. Seuss Day was a sign of how things had changed since he was young.
“I never had Dr. Seuss Day when I was a kid,” Parker said. Parker was one of 21 FFA members who spent part of Wednesday reading to, playing games with and doing crafts with students at Knolls Vista Elementary in Moses Lake.
Dr. Seuss Day is designed to promote literacy through special activities like reading aloud and doing crafts.
“Do something fun,” said Knolls Vista teacher Veronica Kern, who was in charge of the school celebration. It’s part of a multi-day event, which included dress-up days and other special events. Wednesday was Crazy Sock Day, and Kern made sure she had appropriate socks.
The FFA got involved through Kern’s husband Tony, who’s one of the MLHS chapter advisers. The FFA members supervised the craft projects and the playground games.
“It’s — it’s fun,” said Ryan Cardenas, who was helping children with their coloring pages. He said he wasn’t sure the kids (who were in the primary grades) would listen to instructions from teenagers, but they did, and they were nice, too.
Laura Wagner had a little more trouble getting some of the kids to listen to her directions. “I really like the kindergartners, because they listen a lot better than the second-graders,” she said. “The second-graders have a mind of their own sometimes.”
Keliann Stephens ran the reading corner with a firm hand. “OK, you guys, come and sit on the carpet over here,” she said, leading the kids toward the reading corner.
Parker, Devan Ramirez and Emeri Mackey were among the FFA students running the games on the playground.
“Honestly, it’s really just a lot of patience,” Devan said. Devan and Parker supervised the bean bag game, and Devan stopped to help one of the kids tie her shoe. And Devan doesn’t even have any little brothers or sisters. “I’m the youngest but the biggest,” he said.
“We have to make sure they walk out of here with a smile on their face,” Devan said.
All Knolls Vista classes were invited to compete in a door decorating contest with the FFA students doing the judging.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Outgoing Othello mayor says time in office taught some lessons
OTHELLO — Outgoing Othello Mayor Shawn Logan said his time in office has reinforced some things he already knew and taught him some new lessons, too. “Othello has nice people in it. Really good people. And we really are a family-friendly, youth sports, agriculture, largely Hispanic community,” he said. “I got to know my community better. And the other thing that I was learning is that this town has a lot of kids in it.” Logan was defeated earlier this year in a bid for his fourth term as mayor. He was first elected to the mayor’s job in 2014. Logan said his motivation was to help Othello grow and improve, and that continued to be his focus. The question, he said, was how to do it.
Stevens Pass set to partially reopen
STEVENS PASS — A section of US Highway 2 will reopen Monday for daytime use, with a pilot car, but other sections of the road remain closed. A detour will be available for people trying to access the east section of Highway 2 from Leavenworth.
Winter temperatures to arrive and stay for a while
MOSES LAKE — All those mild days in November and December? All those 50-degree afternoons? Well, as people may have noticed, that late fall weather is going away, at least for the time being. Joey Clevenger, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Spokane, said weather patterns are starting to push cold air into Eastern and Central Washington.