The Long Creek School sits on the eastern edge of Long Creek, a town of about 170 in the Blue Mountains. Graduation is a big deal in the remote town. (Photo by Jake Arnold, OSBA)
The Long Creek School has only eight high school students this school year. Six of them, including the only girl, played on the basketball team.
That was enough to give the two seniors, Jimmy Barberi II and Charles Kreamier, the basketball they craved.
“When we are not playing, we are watching,” Jimmy said. “It’s how we express ourselves.”
As graduation season rolls from eastern Oregon to the west this month and next, students are readying themselves for the future and hoping they are prepared. Long Creek’s two graduates say their small school may not have had everything, but it had what they needed.
Long Creek is one of Oregon’s more remote districts, about 45 minutes north of John Day. The whole district has 26 students, with five full-time teachers and three classroom assistants.
The Saturday, May 25, graduation celebration in the school gym is a major town event that will include Mayor and Fire Chief Don Porter. Of course, Porter is also a school board member, and he is married to Denise Porter, the K-3 teacher. Denise Porter will be giving the main speech at the graduation.
The ceremony will have many of the usual elements, such as “Pomp and Circumstance,” a slide show and cake. But it will also have special touches, such as decorations made by fellow students. Each of the graduates will give a rose to people important to their journey.
For many school board members, handing out diplomas on graduation day is their most meaningful reward. Long Creek School Board members are on the bonus plan.
“Because the kids all know who we are, you are just as likely to get a hug as a handshake,” said board Chair Marsie Watson.
Watson is a retired special needs teacher from California who worked in much bigger schools. She knows her district can’t give students some of the extras found in a larger district, such as multiple language teachers or choices in arts programs. She said Long Creek makes up for it with a personal touch on core subjects built out of knowing students well.
Senior Charles Kreamier said his diploma is crucial to exploring options outside his small hometown. (Photo by Jake Arnold, OSBA)
Charles has been at the school since second grade. Two of his four older siblings also graduated from Long Creek. Charles is considering following one of them into the Air Force. He doesn’t feel limited by having only three teachers for high school classes.
“We can ask for help, and the teachers won’t be too busy,” he said. “When we want to learn something, they figure it out.”
Jimmy thinks he would have dropped out if he had gone to a more traditional-sized school. He moved to Long Creek midway through ninth grade to join his father who was recuperating from some injuries. Jimmy was missing school and behind on classes when he moved, but at Long Creek, he was able not only to catch up but to excel.
He said teachers wouldn’t let him miss class, and the one-on-one interaction gave him the confidence to explore.
“You can explode academically,” he said.
Jimmy said the district’s small size and remoteness from other entertainment options forces students to build bonds with their classmates and community.
He said the individual attention reassures students that they are “safe and loved when they show up every day.”
Jimmy’s father, Jim Barberi, gets choked up when he talks about how much the community has supported his son and seeing his son graduate. Jim Barberi never graduated high school, and he wants an easier work life for his child.
Senior Jimmy Barberi II (left) plans to visit his foreign exchange student friend Pun Leadsuk (right) in Thailand after he graduates. (Photo by Jake Arnold, OSBA)
After graduation, Jimmy hopes to visit a friend in Thailand and travel to Germany to study culinary arts. Long Creek has opened up Jimmy’s horizons, his dad says, and he couldn’t be happier.
“I want to go too,” he said. “I’m going to live vicariously.”
Tricia Weissenfluh, who graduated from Long Creek in 1997 in a class of 10, said she felt better set up for college than many of her peers who came from larger schools.
“When we went out on our own, we were secure and confident,” she said. Weissenfluh, who has a psychology degree, returned to Long Creek five years ago for a less hectic life for her family, and now is a teacher’s assistant.
Jimmy’s travel plans have been shaped by the foreign exchange students he has befriended at Long Creek. Half of the high school enrollment is exchange students. The long-running district program provides much needed funding, but it also gives these somewhat isolated students an intimate look at other languages, foods, religions and cultures.
And it makes basketball possible. The Long Creek team did better than last year and nearly made the playoffs with the help of two exchange students who had skills.
Small school students say that is one of the appeals: Everybody has a chance to participate in anything available.
Walking down the school’s hallway and pointing at graduation photos, Jennifer Martinez can rattle off the current situation of most of the students from the past decade. Martinez, mother of nine and frequent foreign exchange student host, is also the district office manager, school board secretary and “room mother for every kid in town.”
Her daughter Erin Garinger was one of five who graduated in 2021, one of the largest classes in recent years. Her son Nolan Garinger was the only graduate last year. Her son Tucker Garinger will likely be the only graduate next year.
Tucker shares classrooms with Jimmy and Charles. He said seeing them daily makes him confident he will earn his diploma.
“I can definitely do it if Jimmy and Charles can,” he said with a laugh.
– Jake Arnold, OSBA
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