2017 SCLC Education Day Report

Posted at 2:48 PM on Mar 29, 2017

It's official: 2017's Education Day was a huge hit! We've put together a great article in case you missed it. You can check it out below.

Donated Volunteer Time:

59 Resource Professional Guides from – Sierra Pacific Industries (28), CAL FIRE (6), USFS (7), CDF&W (1), Collins Pine (2), W.M. Beaty & Associates (4), Trinity River Lumber (1), Crane Mills (1), Soper-Wheeler (1), Shasta College (1), Fruit Growers (1), Michigan-Cal (1),Retired (4) and Consulting (1)…

20 Professional Presenters from – Sierra Pacific Industries, W.M. Beaty & Associates, Warner Enterprises, Red Tail Publishing, USFS Retired, Marc Colp Carving, Wood Mizer, CHP, Bejac, The Forest Foundation, Hearst, Cal Fire, Wild Things and House of Power.

30 College Student Guides from Shasta College Heavy Equipment Operators Club and Forestry Club (John Livingston)

20 High School Student Guides from Anderson High School – also bagged all seedlings, sorted items into 800 student backpacks, Tommy 2x4 actor & handlers (Carol Perea)

Education Day Attendance:

Total of 29 Classes (New: Bend, Rother and Junction) (Most: Anderson Heights and North Cottonwood) (Furthest: Junction City)
Total over 800 Students with additional Teachers and Parents (Shasta, Trinity & Tehama Co)

Education Day Stations Included:

Wildlife Show Joe - Wild Things
Logging Sports DemonstrationSCLC Matt Cheula & Buzz Eades
Bejac Equipment Kevin Broderick – Bejac Corp.
CAT Equipment Guides
Forest Products Demonstration Marie Kennedy - TAT
Log Loading Demonstration Gary Warner - Warner Enterprises
(2) Tree Planting DemonstrationsSPI / W.M. Beaty
Steam Donkey John Nichols – USFS Retired
Sawmills / Fuelwood Zach Dunlap
Wood Carver Marc Colp Chainsaw Carving
World’s Strongest Logger Dennis & Russell Garrison - SPI
Wood Products GameMichele V. And Lindsay V. - TFF
Hydrophobic Cookie Demonstration Mary Livingston - Red Tail Publishing
CHP CHP
Tommy 2 x 4 Anderson HS FFA students
Trucks Guides

Education Day Committee:

Delbert Gannon, Jeanne Tomascheski, Shaney Emerson, Carol Perea, Ted James, Kelly Fredrickson & Karly Robison

Comment from Teacher:

The field trip was great, in spite of the weather. I even had one little girl looking up at me, and with rain dripping off her nose, she said, “Mrs. Quibell, this is the best field trip ever!”

Shirley Quibell, Anderson Heights

Narrative:

Education Day planning for 2017 began at our wrap-up meeting and continued via email through the fall months. We still had a one-year supply of ribbons for the poster contest, from Bright’s Awards in Redding, so we did not need to order ribbons for 2017.

Jeanne Tomascheski contacted the schools and classroom teachers to attend the Education Day event while in concert, Shaney Emerson contacted Resource Professionals to be guides to host the students. Carol Perea’s High School students pack the gift bags and organize them for each class.

Jeanne Tomascheski provided poster board and personal classroom visits to thirteen (13) schools with twenty-eight (28) individual classes. Steve Emershy (SPI) handled the class from Junction City School. These visits prepare both students and teachers for what to expect during their fieldtrip, what to wear, and how to be safe. These classroom site visits account for every school being on time at the fairgrounds and wearing proper outdoor attire to take their tour.

This year we had early requests from three new schools: Bend Elementary in Red Bluff, Rother Elementary in Redding, and Junction Elementary in Palo Cedro. Dennis Mitchell of Evergreen (Grade 7) decided to take his students to the in-woods show in May, thereby freeing up space for two classes. Enrollment at Pacheco School increased to three classes, so we wound up with 29 classes instead of 28. This year every class was Grade 4, with the exception of Junction City (Grade 3-4-5 combination) and Evergreen Institute of Excellence (Grade 4-8). We were able to accommodate all schools from last year’s waiting list, and we had one very late request, which we could not accommodate: Evergreen Elementary (Grade 4). We did some creative grouping to fit everyone into the double-barreled shotgun schedule. We expanded the second half of the rotation again this year to include 8 stops in addition to the Wild Things Show/Logging Sports/Poster Contest. Jeanne contacted each school to see which classes could stay until 12:15, and we put them in the second rotation.

The weather for Education Day 2016 was predicted to be rainy and windy. The day before the event, we moved most of the stations indoors, or under covered areas, due to the rainy forecast. The weather was very wet and chilly, but the students and teachers had a great time. Bella Vista Elementary students and teachers found some covered picnic tables, and stayed to enjoy their lunch at the fairgrounds, while most of the other schools left immediately after the program.

Guides gathered and received their instructions and pairings at the entrance to Ferrari Hall. Every guide, presenter and student working to host the elementary kids was outfitted with a black T-shirt featuring the conference logo with “Logger Strong” on the back in orange and white. Guides enjoy receiving a t-shirt gift and many are worn for a few years as reminders.

Delbert Gannon led one-half of the guides on a “dry run” of the tour stops they would visit, while Jeanne Tomascheski led the other half of the resource professionals through their tour destinations. This is a vital step for new guides to see how the program flows and connect with the presenters they will be visiting with the students. In addition, they can receive a few tips from veteran guides to be more successful and confident. (Double-Barreled Shotgun Rotation)

We were fairly successful in achieving our goal in the poster contest with only five classes unable to produce an entry (24 posters entered). This was a lesson in “be careful what you ask for” as this made judging to select the top three from more than a dozen entries in each rotation a real challenge. The wildlife / logging sports show was outstanding this year, with Gabe’s son, Joe, hosting the Wild things demonstration. The World’s Strongest Logger demonstration was a crowd favorite, as well as Smokey Bear, Sparky the fire dog, and Tommy 2 by 4, an Anderson High School student volunteer, dressed in the 8 foot tall costume.

Each bus was outfitted with the gift bags (black drawstring backpacks with white logo) to be distributed to each student when they returned to the school. These contained pencils, bookmarks, coloring books and other information to complement their tour. Anderson High School students arrived at 8:00 a.m., and efficiently bagged 800 seedlings for the students. The Anderson High Natural Resource students floral design class also provided (at no cost) 50 beautiful table centerpieces for the Education Auction Dinner.

Teachers enjoy receiving the transportation funding (without which they would not be able to attend) and poster contest monies. No other event pays them such respect. This year we distributed a “Save the Date” flyer for the SCLC In-Woods Forest Harvest Demonstration (May 3rd or 4th) to all of the teachers in attendance as they were receiving their transportation checks. Winning posters were on display at the Education Auction dinner, up high on the railing at the Win River Resort ballroom. Ted James chose two of the posters to be sold in the live auction, and they went for a total of $1000. Carol Perea photographed each of the posters, and they will be displayed on the SCLC website, so that everyone can see the hard work and creativity that went into making the outstanding posters.

Committee members plan to meet for a wrap-up meeting in March. Ideas for Education Day 2018 already include; setting aside parking in Lot 1 for school buses and chaperones, which worked very well this year; bringing back the World’s Strongest Logger competition, as well as the two Forest Foundation woods products stations and tree planting stations; look for inside & sheltered demonstration opportunities; perhaps a high school aged tour on Friday to plant career seeds.