‘Environmental Musician’ Affirms Habitat Awareness
Like John Denver crooning to a pack of yuppies, Dana Lyons was preaching his environmentalist message to the ordained when he visited Balboa Elementary last week.
After flipping through slides of beautiful Northwest scenery and telling the students of imminent danger to the tailed frog’s habitat, Lyons worked a Guthrie-esque repertoire of sing-along songs like “This Land is Your Land,” “Inch by Inch” and “Habitat.”
Lyons encouraged students to do what they can - not litter, plant a garden.
After he was done, some students said they hadn’t learned anything new. “If you trash the habitat, you have no food,” said Elliott Lamp, 6.
Lyons, an “environmental musician,” said that has been a common response as he has toured schools in Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon. The tour is funded by Columbia River Bio Region Campaign, a consortium of environmental groups.
In Spokane, he also visited Woodridge Elementary on Spokane’s North Side.
“It was supposed to be an environmental education tour, but it’s not,” said Lyons. “I’m affirming what they know.”
The students, sitting on the floor of the Balboa gym, “whoooaaa”-ed and “aaaaawwwwee”-ed through the slide show as Lyons flipped through pictures of wolves, cougar kittens and spiders.
“I like spiders,” said Donny Ring, 6.
Lyons has been a professional musician for 10 years and has experimented with various styles. He says he started focusing on children’s music when he realized he was “deep down a folk musician.”
Lyons’ message carries more than a trace of politics. “Since the new Congress was elected, I switched to kids,” Lyons jokes.
That message was no joke earlier in the tour, when shows were canceled in Tonasket, Wash., after conservative groups complained.
Lyons says he is motivated by the “lesson of the salmon.”
“Culture is not taking care of maintaining of habitat. It’s just not a priority,” said Lyons. “What happened to salmon will happen to humans.”
Rogers parents organizing
A group of Rogers High School parents is organizing a discussion and support group to consider ways of combating teen suicide, violence, pregrancies and drug use.
The group will be meeting once a month at Rogers. For information, call Mary York at 489-0617.
Career planning fair at NC
North Central High School is holding a career planning fair Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. in the North Central theater. Students and parents will have the opportunity to hear presentations from community and technical colleges, Washington State University and Whitworth College.
Student loan bankers and financial aid officials will be on hand to answer financial questions, and representatives from the military testing service and recruiters from the ROTC and reserve programs will make presentations.
Representatives from the state Department of Labor and Industries will also present information about apprenticeship programs.
For more information, call Janie Umphrey at the North Central High School career center at 353-4540.
Cheerleaders sponsor sale
North Central is having an arts and crafts sale Dec. 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the school. The sale, sponsored by North Central cheerleaders, will include baked goods, candy and face painting.
Shadle students hooked on future
With a $12,000 grant provided by the GTE Foundation, Shadle Park High School teachers Karen Wilson and Henry Mendoza have hooked their students to the future.
Wilson and Mendoza teach “discrete math” - a course that merges technology, science and math. The grant is intended to help teachers use computers more effectively in science classrooms, or vice versa.
“It was perfect for us,” said Wilson.
The teachers used the grant to buy a pair of gadgets which allow students to chart the motion of a basketball or temperature gradations.
“We are trying to encourage them to think scientifically, to be curious,” said Wilson.
The next big project for the class is to build a levitating using repulsing magnets.
Christmas concerts
A pair of Mead elementary schools are having Christmas concerts. On Dec. 12, a choir made up of Mead elementary students will perform at Whitworth College’s Cowles Auditorium at 7 p.m. On Dec. 14, Evergreen Elementary students will sing in the Cowles Auditorium at 7 p.m.
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MEMO: Education Notebook is a regular feature of the North Side Voice. If you have news about an interesting program or activity at a North Side school or about the achievements of North Side students, teachers or school staff, please let us know. Write: Jonathan Martin, Education Notebook, North Side Voice, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. E-mail: jonathanm@spokesman.com. Call: 459-5484. Fax: 459-5482.