By SUE RYAN
News staff writer
April 23, 2008

High school students hacked through blackberries recently in Hood River as part of a science class.

The students attend Mountain Orchard Academy, an alternative high school program housed on the Hood River Valley High School campus.

“We teach in themes each quarter; this quarter it’s plants and this first part is invasive species,” said Brooke LeBlanc, one of the program’s three teachers.

Patches of Himalayan blackberry are common along Indian Creek, which is where students spent time cutting away at a mass the size of two to three cars behind the school stadium recently. They did so by hooking up with the Hood River Watershed Group, which has been working to revitalize the creek as one of its projects to improve the overall health of the valley’s watershed.

“Blackberries are an invasive species and a noxious weed in Oregon, said Emily Plummer, the watershed assistant. “Blackberries create a mono-crop where nothing else can grow and taking those out and planting other species helps promote plant diversity and creates a better habitat for all the little critters out there.”

As part of their work putting in red cedar, ponderosa pine and Douglas fir seedlings, the students got a hands-on approach to learning. Later in the week, the students concentrated on reading about the blackberries. The plants curriculum carries out a year-long theme of studying natural resources since September. Previous classes have focused on water, air and rights and responsibilities.

The academy’s lead teacher, Rob Bart, designed the curriculum that way. The belief is that students will learn better when the material relates to their lives. That approach and the smaller size classes have created a popular program, which has grown also through students talking about it.

“I heard it (MOA) was hands-on and more helpful,” said student Mariah Estey. “I really needed help because I was behind. There is more one-on-one individual work here.”

Her peers, Cesar Martinez and Christian Velasco, agreed, saying the students all get along really well. To get into the academy, students must apply and go through an interview. Even with that requirement, they still want to attend.

“We have a waiting list,” said LeBlanc.

The alternative program began a number of years ago when the district contracted with The Next Door Inc. which ran a program similar to The Dalles-Wahtonka district’s program. Three years ago, the academy moved onto Hood River Valley High School’s campus and under the district’s direction.

HRVHS Vice-Principal Karen Neitzel serves as the academy’s administrator and said the program is for students who look for something different than what is at the high school.

“We’re trying to serve all of the students we have in the best way possible,” she said.