PRLHS seniors giving back to the community
(Photo by MARY MALONE)Priest River Lamanna High School senior Amy Flack tells one of the judges about her senior project, a memorial trap shoot for her father, Phil Flack, who died earlier this year.
(Courtesy photo) One special senior project this year was done Priest River Lamanna High School seniors Lilly Bombinio and Baylee Teeters, who organized a talent show that netted $1,100 for the life skills class at the school. Pictured on the left is Bombino, and Teeters on the right.
(Photo by MARY MALONE) PRLHS senior Maggee Pankoke talks about her senior project, titled "Wyatt's Winter Wonderland, which was a fundraising effort for a memorial baseball field in Blanchard.
(Photo by MARY MALONE) Priest River Police and school resource officer, Sgt. Chris Davis, learns about one of the many projects the Priest River Lamanna High School seniors took on this year.
PRIEST RIVER — The seniors at Priest River Lamanna High School took on a variety of projects to help out the community this year.
“There were several amazing projects this year,” said PRLHS Principal Joe Kren. “In fact the scoring from the judges on the student demonstrations as a whole, was as high as it has ever been.”
One special project, Kren said, was done by seniors Lilly Bombinio and Baylee Teeters. Lilly and Baylee organized a talent show that netted $1,100 for the life skills class at Priest River Lamanna High School.
Another project was “Wyatt’s Winter Wonderland” in memory of Wyatt Corning, a Blanchard toddler who died in 2015. Being from Blanchard, PRLHS senior Maggee Pankoke said she knows the family well, and their plan is to construct Wyatt’s Baseball Field. The family started the Wyatt’s Wish Foundation, Pankoke said, and have already built a park in the toddler’s honor.
To help with the baseball field, “Wyatt’s Winter Wonderland” was created as a fundraiser. Pankoke said they made wreaths and gift baskets, raffled off a cord of firewood, did pictures with Santa and more. The biggest thing, she said, was a Christmas tree sale. Pankoke presented her project to the community a week ago during the school’s senior project exhibition night, and the event followed on Sunday at the Blanchard Grange.
“We wanted to make as much money as possible to help build their baseball field, and then (Wyatt’s parents) Alan and Kelly decided to make this an annual event, too, which was pretty cool,” Pankoke said.
PRLHS senior Karleigh Belding also stepped up for the community by helping the Angels Over Sandpoint with its backpack program, from ordering the supplies to distributing the bags in late August. After helping distribute the bags in Sandpoint, she and her mom brought some to Priest River for distribution as well.
“It was a lot of fun,” Belding said. “I liked helping the community out, and it was nice seeing the little kids’ faces — they were so excited.”
Grant Ahlers put his woodworking skills to the test and built a long, sturdy bench for the Priest River Food Bank. As of last Wednesday, Ahlers said he had 39 hours and $238.30 into the project. One of the most expensive parts, he said, were the cushions, which were $50.40 each and he ordered three. Ahlers said the time and money was worth it to do a “nice project” for the food bank.
Logan Isenberger and Ben Zapfe kept their project a little closer to school as they began an interior remodel of the announcer booth at the PRLHS football field. They cleaned it up and removed the “nasty” orange carpet, Isenberger said, and got the wooden floor all cleaned up and removed any nails. They were still waiting on the linoleum flooring last Wednesday.
In keeping with Priest River Spartan colors, the pair also painted the walls orange. Isenberger said they would like to thank Priest River Ace Hardware for donating the paint.
Kren also said he would like to thank the community for its support of many of the students’ projects.
“A huge thank you once again to our community for supporting those seniors through their mentorship as well as financially for the projects that raised money for various community causes,” Kren said. “Once again, our community has stepped up in support of our students.”
Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.