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SUTHERLIN — A large, well-lit arrow pointed people toward a warehouse Thursday night, where a sea of people in blue jackets gathered to talk, thank and celebrate.
Sutherlin High School held its 10th-anniversary Career and Technical Education Partners Dinner. This was their first time hosting this event in four years.
“This is the first post-COVID; the last one we had was in January 2020. That was the sixth annual, and well, we’re on 10 years now,” said Wes Crawford, FFA adviser at Sutherlin. “Tonight is really a thank you to those industry partners, our school board members and elect representatives that are supporting career and technical education at the high school level, knowing that it is definitely a priority.”
The night began as an open house, with students leading tours through their project rooms and giving demonstrations on their work if applicable.
Students showed projects in the wood shop, leather shop, blacksmith shed, greenhouse, animal science lab and the new metal shop facility. They welcomed visitors who entered the building, explained what they were working on or demonstrated, and answered questions about the work or anything else that the visitors asked.
“We get to do a lot of hands-on stuff with the lambs. Like Monday we vaccinated the lambs. We tagged them and banded their tails,” Addison Roberts said. Addison is a junior at Sutherlin in the animal science program.
The dinner — mac and cheese, salad, chicken, pulled pork and Costco cookies — was cooked by two parents and served on top of a trailer built by a Sutherlin metal shop class seven years before.
“They build the trailer in this program seven years ago, and one of the kids that was involved in that project is one of our lead fabricators now. Wes is doing advanced work,” Jack Trowbridge from Great Northern Trailer Works said. He provided the trailer for the class, and has been a long-time supporter of the Sutherlin career education.
“It’s been a great relationship. The kids can do anything, they have great equipment, the same that we have in our shop,” Trowbridge said. “It’s a great program, high quality and effective. I mean, how many programs are effective?”
According to Crawford, there was enough seating set up for 104 people, and not many seats were empty during dinner. In addition to industry partners, several elected officials were present to show their support.
FFA chapter president Jada Gary and her associate vice president Marley Griggs opened the presentation with a thank you to all the partners in the room.
“This program sets students up for success, and none of this would be possible without you,” Jada said.
Crawford and Josh Gary then presented their slideshow, running through what their program has accomplished and what they continue to work on or hope to bring out next.
They spoke about how they now have a new art room at the school, have had impressive results at various competitions including the Douglas County Fair, have helped in community projects such as Sleep in Heavenly Peace and Sutherlin Showdown and more.
Up next on their list of ideas for the future, Gary hopes to start selling wood from their sawmill to other schools. They also hope to add an ag mechanics class, more leather and metal working, continue working on school improvement projects and bring back the Summer Shop Seminar for Teachers.
Wooden coaster sets laser-engraved with the Sutherlin CTE Builds logo and “2023 Partners” lay around the tables, for partners to take home as a gift.
Gloria Coleman is a reporter for The News-Review. She can be reached at gcoleman@nrtoday.com
