Philomath Fire and Rescue celebrated staff and volunteers last weekend at Station 201 on an evening that included personnel reciting their oath of office and individuals basking in the warmth of recognition for outstanding service over the past year.
“Tonight was really all about celebration and the growth … the people in the department that have served throughout the year and all of the great things that they’ve done,” Philomath Fire and Rescue Chief Chancy Ferguson said following the Feb. 10 event. “And also to give families a chance to recognize the accomplishments of their family members.”
Philomath Fire Fighters Local 4925 announced the recipients of Outstanding Firefighter awards to Capt. Dan Eddy and Lt. Paula Anderson. The Philomath Fire and Rescue Volunteer Association’s awards went to Anderson (Firefighter of the Year), Zander Bradford (Resident Volunteer of the Year), Allan Aguirre-Burk (Emergency Medical Services Volunteer of the Year) and Steph Vallancey (Most Inspirational).
Doug Edmonds, board president, led Ferguson through the oath of office in front of the 60 or so people in attendance. Deputy Fire Chief Rich Saalsaa and Lt. Levi Schell also took oaths as did volunteers Eddy and Anderson.
Others taking oaths were firefighters Riece Hines, Kolton Guilford, Jayden Lindberg, Alexander Bradford and emergency medical services volunteers Connie Cammack and Kendra Islam.
“We try to do it yearly — every time that we have a change in the department and promotions and such,” Ferguson said about taking that oaths. “But I feel that it’s important to recommit to the organization, to the community.”
After a buffet-style dinner of tri-tip, side dishes and cake, Ferguson opened the gathering with a slideshow program, followed by the three youngest resident volunteers sharing what taking the oath means to them.
In addition to the individual honors handed out, the volunteer association also presented service awards to Dave Wiger (45 years), Bob Riegelmann (25 years), Chris Leonard (five years) and Andy Louden (five years).
2. Grants help support reading efforts
Three grants awarded over the past several months have helped get books into the hands of young readers by supporting the Oregon Battle of the Books program and small group reading at Philomath Elementary School.
• Dollar General 2023 Youth Literacy Grant, $1,930.
• Figaro’s Pizza H.E.L.P Helping Education with Love and Pizza Grant, $475.
• Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund, $576.
“With both the Figaro’s and Siletz grants, we were able to purchase six copies of each of the 16 books from the 2023-24 OBOB list,” said Molly Bell, a literacy specialist at Philomath Elementary. “We were able to stretch the grant funds by purchasing some of the titles used.”
Bell said the Philomath Parent-Teacher Organization at Clemens Primary School also helped purchase copies of titles with money raised from Scholastic Book Sale proceeds.
“We had 13 Philomath Elementary School OBOB teams this year with 58 students participating in grades 3-5,” Bell said. “Having multiple copies of the books available for check-out is a huge asset to support their reading. The grants should give us enough funds to purchase at least five copies of each of the 2024-25 book titles later this spring when the new list is finalized.”
This year’s Battle of the Books competition at the elementary school is winding down with semifinal battles on Feb. 23 and the final battle on Feb. 27.
The Dollar General grant allowed the school to purchase colorful decodable readers to help support second- and third-grade students during small group reading.
“These books explicitly practice phonics-based patterns and give students extra reading fluency practice with engaging materials,” Bell said. “We were able to purchase eight different book sets to cover a range of phonics skills. Our second- and third-grade students have enjoyed them and look forward to reading the next book in each series.”
3. Success for new robotics team
The newest robotics team in the PHRED family qualified for the FIRST Tech Challenge’s state competition.
Team 24195 – PHRED 2.0 is in its rookie season of battling in the robotic events. At the Willamette Valley League Tournament Feb. 3 at Thurston High School in Springfield, the Philomath contingent qualified for state from among 19 teams participating with the Finalist Alliance — First Team Selected award.
Team members include Noah Dill, Toby Muravez, Sam Noakes, Evan O’Rourke, Peyton Richards, Zach Rogers, Perrin Sizemore, Lincoln Steiger and Owen Williams. Logan Todd serves as the team’s student mentor. They were recently recognized during a Philomath Middle School assembly.
PHRED — an acronym for Philomath High Robotics and Engineering Division — were able to add an additional FIRST Tech Challenge team this academic year with the help of a $3,000 Google grant through the Oregon Robotics Tournament and Outreach Program. Google is involved with supporting the development of new middle school teams.
The PHRED program also features the high school’s Team 847 that competes in FIRST Robotics Competition events and its original FTC Team 8892 with middle school and high school members.
In case you missed it, PHRED’s robotics team will be competing on Sunday — FRC in Albany and FTC at home here in Philomath.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
