While facility improvements could eventually enter the conversation, the School District on Tuesday began a holistic approach to gather information and find what is needed to provide a good education to local students. And it’s waiting for input from the community to guide those decisions.

The Dufur School District has been awarded a $125,000 revitalization grant from the Oregon Department of Education to further enhance and develop their career and technical education (CTE) training program for the students of Dufur School, Ranger TECH.

What investments should The Dalles make to ensure that we turn out well-rounded critical thinkers who can see a career path to ensure their employment and purpose? D21 is set to find out on March 1 at a strategic planning meeting set for 6:30 p.m. CCCNews.com, Columbia Community Connection

Eight members of en Taiko, a youth Japanese taiko drum ensemble from Portland, will be here to entertain and educate us on Saturday, March 19th. This program will take place at 11:00 in the John and Jean Thomas Children’s Wing.

North Wasco County School District is pleased to announce the selection of Sandra Harris as the next Human Resources Director for the District. Harris, who has been serving as the Principal at The Dalles Middle School since 2015, will take the reins on her new role this coming July.

As the Vice President of Learning Experiences at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Deb Mumm-Hill led the camps, education, outreach, research, and exhibit-design teams.

The Columbia Gorge Community College Board of Education seeks interested district electors in Hood River and Wasco Counties for consideration to be appointed to a three-year term as a Budget Committee member.

A free concert by Native American Music Award-winning flute musician James Edmund Greeley from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs will be held on Saturday, Feb. 26th at 7 p.m. in the wonderful Old St. Peter’s Landmark.

The Dalles High School (TDHS) Graphic Design Teacher Paula Long is empowering students to explore careers in Graphic Design with hands-on design experience and skill set building.

TDHS Students Alex Rector and Iris Cruz recently vaulted onto the world stage at Carnegie Hall after years of singing in The Dalles. Their teacher Shawn Lutz said getting them on that stage in New York was the ultimate goal. Rector said the experience brought tears to her eyes as the girls saw how hard work led them to a great place.

The story of John Woodruff, The Hermit of The Dalles, wagged tongues of older people and conjured mysteries of the bogey man for the children of this gentle man that lived in a cave above the Catholic Cemetary more than 100 years ago. Learn more about his interesting life in a history forum on Saturday, Feb. 20.

The Dalles School Teachers and D21 offer up some of the lessons and activities going on in their classrooms of late. Classes have been sending positive notes, drawing what love looks like, practicing for natural disasters. In addition, the district is working towards a strategic plan, will give a presentation on innovative learning on Thursday and is currently hiring for summer school.

Rodger Nichols researched the incident that took place in 1949 when longshoremen at west coast ports honored a strike by their counterparts in Hawaii and refused to unload a shipload of pineapples. The union was not represented in The Dalles, so the ship headed up the Columbia and attempted to unload its cargo at the local port. Soon longshoremen descended on the town and a riot ensued.

Robotics isn’t what most people think of when it comes to a high school education but now, more than ever, classes like Charles Webber’s at TDHS, are of growing importance. By the time these students graduate in the next few years, over half of the available jobs around the globe will be in the STEM field.

The Dalles School Teachers and D21 offer up some of the lessons and activities going on in their classrooms of late. Learn about middle school virtual sports awards, ceramics, social-emotional learning, spring high school sports, and teacher Marnette Sprouse is recognized for saving a choking student.

The Wasco County Cultural Trust Coalition is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2022 grant awards.

When it comes to live music, Jim Drake can get you plugged in. Our local columnist for entertainment Gorge-wide has a good sampling of coming shows and events, including Honey Badgers, The Jazz Collective, Nancy Wesson, Mutineers, The West Goats, Al Hare, history forums, Superbowl parties, Vertigo, Yvonne Pepin-Wakefield, Rent, and Lowest Pair.

The Dalles Art Center has teamed up with a group of metal fabrication students at Columbia Gorge Community College to fabricate and install a sizable metal display that will greet visitors outside as they approach the Art Center, on the corner of 3rd and Washington streets.

Locals want to see an upgraded high school in The Dalles and at the same time want to see more affordable housing, according to a City of The Dalles local survey recently completed for the 2040 visioning process. Find out what else people thought here.

During the years 1825-’26 Douglas explored the Columbia River and its tributaries, wintering over at Fort Vancouver. His journeys on the river included an overnight in The Dalles. Later explorations took him to California and eventually to Hawaii where he met an untimely death.