North Notes
Spokane-North Rotary Club Bulletin
January 5, 2023
 
Calendar: 
 
             Jan. 16: No meeting.  MLK Holiday.
 
             Jan. 23: Noon meeting at the Bark.  Speaker: TBA
 
             Feb. 10 (Friday): Club social at Melinda Keberle’s house for Colin and Kelly Prestesater’s baby shower.
 
Announcements:
 
            Club Treasurer Lenore Romney said the club has received a $400 District grant, plus another $110 to provide with Mobius science kits for Holmes Elementary School.  Mobius also dropped the price from $12 to $10 for each kit.         
 
 
Hearing the news, new member Jerry Logan, noting he “was a science guy at EWU,” said of the program for kits, said “that’s awesome.”
          
 
  At the Jan. 5 meeting, Jerry was formally installed as a club member by President Keberle.
 
 
 
 
 
Happy Bucks:
 
            Ron Noble was $5 worth of happy to acknowledge another year for himself, his family and the club.
 
            President-elect Steve Boharski was happy that his son, Jerry, graduated from Montana State University last month.
 
            Bill Simer was happy that EWU “didn’t treat the MSU Bobcats” with a basketball win.
 
            Laura Zahn was happy for a new grandchild in the family.
           
Charter school brings light to teen parents
           
            A “lumen” is a unit of the measure of brightness of light.  The mission of Spokane’s Lumen High School is to provide light and education for teen parents.
 
            At the small public charter school at 718 W. Riverside “each student follows a personalized pathway leading to graduation prepared for future goals and contributions to their communities.”
 
            Lumen’s Principal Melissa Pettey and Executive Director Shauna Edwards talked about the potholes and pleasant accomplishments at the club’s Jan. 5 luncheon.
 
            The charter school partners with School District 81 but has its own district.  In Washington there are 17 charter district schools, including Spokane’s Pride Prep and Innovation High School, which has a college prep curriculum.
 
            At Lumen, Pettey said, the program emphasizes preparing young moms and dads, “often who have gaps in their learning knowledge” to adjust weekly if needed. 
Sometimes, she said, a student “may not feeling it (school) that day” and the school makes allowances.  There also is a social worker on-site to help with challenges, Pettey said.  She added she now has “great friends at the Juvenile Court.  She said she has had to learn “about how to deal with these issues…you had a bump; now you have to work how to get through it.”
 
            Lumen opened in the Covid-challenging year of 2020, said Edwards.  She said 20 students have graduated over the three years and 9 more are enrolled this year.
 
            Five teachers guide the students in grades 9 to 12 and the full-day sessions operate from 8:45 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. 
 
            The location, across from the downtown bus plaza, helps those riders.
 
            Lumen operates a “baby boutique” and has classes on how to act at job sites and what to wear.  The annual budget, Edwards said, is about $2 million a year in mostly donated funds, including Numerica Credit Union.
 
            The goal, Pettey said, is to find “liveable-wage jobs,” hoping to get $20-an-hour-plus positions, rather than minimum-wage jobs.
 
            For the teen parents, often living on their own, many days can seem pretty dark.  Lumen’s Charter School offers some bright alternatives, and perhaps a young person’s light bulb may become much shiny.
 
             Bulletin editors: Chuck Rehberg and Sandy Fink