The Hawk Shop offers a variety of different drinks and snacks for LPHS students, yet the items they choose to sell have raised concerns among LPHS families. Celsius, a popular energy drink, is sold at the Hawk Shop. The drink, which according to the Celsius website, “is not recommended for children under the age of 18,” has 200-300 mg of caffeine per serving. In comparison, the median lethal dose of caffeine is anywhere between 5 and 10 grams, according to the National Institute of Health. Celcius’ introduction into the school market has stirred controversy among LPHS families and has them questioning what food items the school is allowed to sell to their students, and if those items meet health and nutrition standards. 

Other than the energy drinks that are sold, the Hawk Shop does offer healthier snacks than the vending machines do, which is why it is so popular among students and teachers. Items such as popcorn, seltzer and Gatorade are also sold at the shop.

“The Hawk Shop is not for profit and invests all of its money back into the shop to buy more supplies and offer more items to purchase,” said Cameron Broome, LPHS’s Leadership teacher. ”We plan to start offering trail mix and granola bars.” 

School policies and health regulations in Oregon only account for sugar, fat, and calorie content when determining what is considered “safe” for high school students to consume. The Oregon statute ORS 336.423 states that caffeine is prohibited from being distributed by schools to students in grades 8 and below. However, there are no caffeine restrictions for high school students. This leaves all LPHS students with seemingly endless amounts of caffeine at their disposal without having to leave school grounds to obtain it.

“If Bend-La Pine School District puts a policy in place to limit the amount of caffeine consumed by students, I would support that,” said Scott Olszewski, the school’s principal. 

The majority of LPHS students who have bought energy drinks from the Hawk Shop say the drinks give them a “boost” that helps them stay focused and energized during class. 

“It’s a quick way to keep me awake during class,” said Ashton Mccay, a regular Hawk Shop customer. Even though students consume highly caffeinated drinks like Celsius frequently, they are usually aware of their harmful effects. 

“I know the drink has bad stuff in it like caffeine,” said Kolten Kopachik, a student who refuses to drink Celsius and helps run the shop. Despite knowing this fact, students still choose to buy energy drinks and even vouch for its presence in the Hawk Shop. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 percent of school districts nationwide have policies in place to limit the amount of caffeine that is consumed by their students. One of these districts was the Baltimore County Public School District, which implemented its caffeine policies in 2014. The school enacted this policy because of the overwhelming research conducted by the FDA that suggests caffeine negatively affects students’ behavior and academic performance. A caffeine-related death in 2011 also served as a further motivator for the policy. The victim was a 14-year-old student of Maryland that reportedly “[died] after drinking just two energy drinks”

Even though Celsius sits comfortably within school regulations and on the surface, helps students get through the day, that does not mean that it is best for students’ health. The Bend-La Pine School district may not be able to completely prevent high school students from drinking caffeine, but it is capable of installing policies that limit the amount of caffeine that is advertised and sold to students. 

The post Dangerous Doses of Caffeine Sold to LPHS Students appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

“I’m very happy and proud of our staff that we have double-digit gains,” said Scott Olszewski, the La Pine High School Principal.

Olszewski credits CTE (Career and Technical Education) programs for boosting the school’s graduation rates and increasing student engagement. The LPHS offers natural resource science, manufacturing technology and metals, criminal justice and law as well as business management as CTE programs. These diverse programs are thoroughly enjoyed by students and grant them a more hands-on approach to learning while also preparing them for their dream careers. 

“No matter what, I have my future covered here,” said Jaret Lorimor, a manufacturing technologies student who plans to pursue fields of either forestry or welding. He’s had the chance to experience both since the LPHS offers both of his desired fields of work.

Cameron Salvitelli, the current CTE instructor for the manufacturing technologies course, has run the class for six years and has built the curriculum from the ground up since its start in 2018. The program gained its resources through the ODE (Oregon Department of Education) via a grant and has stayed largely self-sufficient through its student projects. Projects that are not taken home by students are sold to fund future projects and improve important parts of the program such as dust collection systems and equipment. According to Mr. Salvitelli, 

“We try to teach students technical skills that they can take with them into their careers,” said Salvitelli, referencing the manufacturing programs.

Since LPHS teaches students are more intrigued by paths other than liberal arts, these CTE programs have propelled their desire to learn and manifested their capabilities in those areas. This approach to learning has kept students engaged in the classroom and, according to principal Olezewski, brings them to school.

LPHS’s main goal with CTE programs is to open doors to college for CTE students and to remind them that there are college paths that follow the more hands-on work that they desire. This way, students are more likely to pursue higher education after high school and solidify themselves in a career that they will enjoy.

The post LPHS CTE Programs and Their Effect on Graduation Rates appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

Since the start of the 2023 fall term and last school year, student-ran clubs have been on the rise at La Pine High School. Previously, it would have been a long and complicated process if a student wanted their own club at the school and is what steered a lot of students away from creating the clubs they wanted. The registration process was, “Too complicated and too far out of the way” according to Ian, a junior who is the current president of the Games Club.

As of this year, 3 new clubs have been established and have already gained quite the following. The Spirit Club, Gender and Sexuality Alliance, and Games Club, all created and organized by students, are all new and on the rise this fall term.

Spirit Club, run by some of the cheerleading team, has rolled into motion this past month and has been busy with all things school spirit. From decorating to organizing school events, Spirit Club has been hard at work making LPHS a fun and engaging place for students and staff alike. “We work as a sort of creative directory for school events” exclaims Madison, one of the members of the Spirit Club.

Spirit Club meets in the LPHS library every Wednesday during lunch to discuss future events and ideas that they plan to host or help out with within the school. The club also aids the leadership class with organizing school-wide events as well as promotes the student section at athletic events.

The Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) is another new student-run club at LPHS. Making its appearance near the beginning of this year, it has already attracted a few students. GSA is a club that provides a sense of security to students that want to talk to peers about issues related to their sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. The club serves as a safe place for students to meet and support each other with the common goals of ending homophobia and transphobia. GSA has meetings every Wednesday in Ms. Bryt’s room.

Games Club, established by Ian Bascue and Timothy Perryman has been in full swing since it started in October. Although the club is still very young, it has already gained the attention of students from all over the school. The club specializes in playing video games but also offers a fun environment for students to connect and socialize with peers who share common interests.

The club currently limits itself to playing the game Super Smash Bros. but according to one of the presidents of the club, Timothy Perryman, “…Soon we are going to play Minecraft too”. Games Club also hosts tournaments once every month and offers a $5 entry fee to anyone who wishes to join with the appeal of a $50-$100 cash prize. This month, the club plans to host a Super Smash Bros. tournament.

Adequate funds are also a concern for the Games Club. The use of consoles, remotes, and TVs can all prove to be a little costly so to combat this, “We fundraise for our equipment and if we want something and can’t fundraise, some of us pitch in to pay for it out of pocket” states Ian Bascue, one of the founders of the club. Games Club meets every Wednesday and Friday and are always accepting members as well as donations to the cause of gaming.

The new adaptations to club creation at LPHS have made it easier than ever before to create student-run clubs. These student-ran clubs have been established since then and are flourishing because of the newly found policies. The clubs will only continue to expand as the year progresses and will continue to provide for students throughout the school year.

The post New Year, New Clubs at LPHS appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

Deputy Jeffry Woods has been La Pine’s SRO for three years, with 12 years of experience as the employer of the Sheriff’s Office. Being one of La Pine’s only SROs, he is constantly visiting all the schools within the community in an effort to make sure that every student gets the security and counseling that they need to prosper in an academic environment. Unfortunately, no deputy or police officer is permitted to stay an SRO forever. As every two years — with the exception of a one year extension — officers are on a mandatory rotation that puts them back in their original roles as a police officer. 

This doesn’t mean the officers are punished with their assignment. “I’d like to keep doing this for as long as I can…out of all the different jobs I’ve done in the sheriff’s office, this is the one I enjoy the most,” said Deputy Woods. 

Deputy Woods became an SRO during the COVID-19 pandemic, so his initial experience was a little bit different from what an SRO would normally do. Rather than roaming school-grounds, he would instead visit students’ houses in order to help out with online schooling issues and offer resources to families in need. 

After the pandemic, things returned to business as usual. Deputy Woods said, “I’m very busy being the only SRO for four schools.” The amount of work that comes with being an SRO can be a lot, but is necessary for keeping schools and students safe.

SRO’s play a key role in schools all over the country and by offering counseling and security to students in need, they create a safe learning environment for students and communities alike. Deputy Woods is one of many SRO’s that follow this triad of being “An educator, a counselor and law enforcer,” a motto created by the National SRO Organization to model the collective capabilities and goals that SRO’s share as a whole. Deputy Woods has since retired from his duty as an SRO but can still be found hanging around campus and ensuring the safety of students on their way to class and on their academic journeys.

The post What Are SROs Doing for Our Schools? appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

La Pine Community kitchen is a non-profit organization whose mission is to supply the La Pine community with necessities like clothing and food, all free of charge. 

Since 2003, they have implemented a variety of services including, The Kitchen, The Closet, and The Produce Stand, all offering varying services to the community.

Starting in the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) Hall located in La Pine, they served a total of 11,929 meals their first year. In recent years, they have replaced equipment that they deemed, “…no longer functioned to optimally meet the needs of our customers.” Brand new ovens and freezers now line the walls of the kitchen that make dishing out meals a breeze for the staff. Noting this, Community Kitchen is making huge steps to improve their non-profit in an overall effort to support the La Pine community.

Sharri Dempsey, the general manager at La Pine Community Kitchen says, “We give out about 1,200 hot meals a month.” Compared to how many they have served in past years, this is a significant increase and according to Dempsey, “Since the food stamps had been cut…and groceries have become more expensive…we have had people on fixed incomes that can’t pay that much. We have had a 25% increase in people that use the kitchen, and that’s a lot of people.”

With this influx of customers, largely due to the pandemic, there have also been some challenges that the Community Kitchen has had to face. According to Dempsey, people have gotten “out of the habit” of using Community Kitchen’s secondary services like The Closet, which provides people with free clothing. She believes that the reason for this is the COVID-19 pandemic and its result being the temporary closure of some of their services to the public. As of now, the Community Kitchen is making efforts to revive these services. Dempsey states that she hopes people will start coming back.

Through the power of grants and donations from surrounding businesses, La Pine Community Kitchen has had the opportunity to thrive and do what they do best. Through unfortunate difficulties which led to loss of customer interest, they have always been strong-spirited and willing to make attempts to bounce back.

From humble beginnings inside of a chicken coop, to a full-scale building fitted with multiple freezers, ovens, stoves, storage compartments, and dining tables, it’s easy to say that the Community Kitchen has done a lot to get where they are today and has done even more for the community along the way.

The post The La Pine Community Kitchen’s Road to Success appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.