For the first time, Yelm will host the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Pacific Regional Meeting.
During the three-day event, which began Wednesday, Feb. 21, through Friday, Feb. 23, Yelm will welcome school district representatives from Hawaii, Alaska, Idaho, California and Oregon, as well as Washington. The conference will allow members of military-connected communities to learn about grant writing, budget management and design, and more from various speakers in the districts.
FFA students will present the colors in the conference kickoff on Wednesday at the Yelm Community Center, and attendees will be treated to an early preview of the Yelm High School drama club’s presentation of “Seussical: The Musical.” The third and final day on Friday will also include a panel of Yelm High School and secondary students at Ridgeline Middle School. The conference is limited to those within the DoDEA Pacific Region and is not open to the public.
Yelm Community Schools has worked with DoDEA for 13 years and was one of the top 10 choices to host the event, according to YCS Director of Student Learning Kendall McNutt.
“They looked at a number of different places and people kept getting no’s, so we brought this to our cabinet-level folks, and they said yes,” McNutt said. “It was actually our DoDEA folks in Washington, D.C. who suggested Yelm, which is kind of cool to know that the folks in D.C. know where Yelm is and often think of us as somebody in our region that can take charge.”
The district only learned that it was selected to host the conference in late January, so it had less than a month to prepare. But local businesses, including Prairie Hotel and Masonry Cafe, have offered their services to make the event possible in such a short time.
Wednesday will include breakfast, an activity and a deep dive into the 2023 business association agreement. After the conference, participants are invited to visit the Tahoma Vista Alpaca Farm & Fiber Mill.
“People can go out and feed the alpacas, and then they’ll take us into the fiber mill and show how they take the fur and process it into yarn,” said Daria McCracken, YCS multi-tiered systems of support coordinator.
Day two will focus on learning, as attendees can choose to either write grants for this year’s grant contest or learn about managing grants. DoDEA has supported YCS in the past with millions of dollars in grants, and McNutt and McCracken will present what YCS has done with the grants on Thursday.
“We’ve really looked at the social and emotional learning of students and how students know that they have a place and that they belong in our schools and how they feel that their dignity is honored,” McCracken said. “Kendall will present how we started in that work, and I will do a follow-up session to explain what we’ve been doing to hear student voices about how they feel in their school systems, and how we turn that into action and set goals to change the culture in our buildings.”
On Friday, participants will visit Ridgeline Middle School to observe instruction and see how the work with DoDEA has impacted what happens in the classroom. Military-connected student panelists from YHS and the district’s two middle schools will answer questions about what the district calls the “belonging work” and how it has impacted their learning.
“We were very selective in choosing those student panelists. We didn’t necessarily look for the kid that’s military-connected but [one who] has been in Yelm their whole life,” Lori Gray, YCS Office of Student Learning program director, said. “We were also looking for some kids who had some mobility and for whom the belonging work would impact the most.”
One of the days will also feature a Sasquatch-themed scavenger hunt, and Sasquatch himself may make an appearance, McCracken said.
District officials are excited to host the event and showcase Yelm to people who may not have otherwise visited.
“We’ve really talked it up. Yelm is such a cool place. I think people don’t often think about Yelm,” McNutt said. “It’s probably not going to make a list of top 10 vacation destinations in the country, but we’ve got a cool vibe. There’s just something about Yelm that’s really special. I think people are going to find that this is such a nice spot, and we’re just excited to share it and all of its glory.”
