23 May 2021

We attended another honors night on Wednesday. The event looked beyond GPA to honor students for extraordinary and unusual achievements. It was a cold and rainy night, but the event was still held outside because of covid restrictions for indoor meetings. 

 Abe received a Raise the Bar award for Best Project and 2 medals for the international DECA competition. His teacher, Mr. Rogan, presented the awards. Here are Mr. Rogan's remarks:

I would like to recognize Abe Hull for Best Project. Project is best defined as- a specific plan or undertaking, carefully planned to achieve an aim. Since I could mention everything from his International Marketing Project on Kenya to his foray into XD with Freakonomics to his Piano music composition titled Overcome from A Thousand Splendid Suns, I am changing the name to best projects.

Abe Hull is an incredibly talented person. Unassuming and with a kind grace, Abe excels at every growth opportunity thrown his way - in the classroom, learning a language, mastering music, competing in sport, participating in co-curricular activities, and leading at work. On the outside, I believe many people would think that his abilities and successes all come naturally. As one who has been his advisor, teacher and mentor, I can tell you this is not the case. Yes, it's true he is incredibly gifted. What is also true is that he puts in more work behind the scenes to learn in his various engagements than almost anyone I have ever taught. That he is willing to do this is admirable, but I find that his humble nature and willingness to help others is even more defining. 

I’d like to share a story about this classroom and Abe and will attempt to be brief. Last year Our DECA chapter was at a competition at Oregon Tech and post competition there was a piano on stage. With a slight urging from his teammates, Abe played beautifully and our audience was humbled. It was such a cool moment >> but this isn’t the story. This set the stage for the story. On the two hour bus drive home, Abe told me that he thought he knew where a piano was on campus that we could have in our room. Thinking this wasn’t really likely to happen, of course I said yes. The next day and before our first bell rang, here comes Abe with a crew wheeling in our new piano. What happened next is amazing. Abe played a bit and our room full of students came alive and spontaneous applause, claps and feelings you genuinely don’t always see in a large tech center happen. What continues to happen is the best part of the story. Every day (before school, during breaks, at lunch and after school) students aside from Abe play our piano. It is truly one of the most innocently, joyous things I get to see as a teacher. This act of kindness from Abe has transformed our learning space. What was once a room full of 70 computers is now a completely different space. Yesterday, I was able to witness this once again as Abe was in the Tech Center with several of his crew - they were helping each other out after everyone had left. I was upstairs in our office when I heard the striking of the piano. I soaked it in a bit and looking over, I noticed Abe playing our piano. It was such a satisfying moment. Thank you Abe.

DECA Recognition

DECA is our business and marketing club at Crater and I am the advisor.

I’d like to recognize the following Crater DECA ICDC competitors: Abe Hull, Abigail Weber, Elizabeth Lotts, Lillian Young, Malia Rozett, Hannah Matthews, Helen Hull, MacKenzie Saunders, Mary Nadauld

What an amazing showing by Crater DECA within our 9 international competitors, we had two top 20 Finalists - Abe Hull and Lillian Young

Abe will be awarded a Silver Ribbon for his top 10 score internationally on his Exam and a Blue Ribbon for finishing in the top 20 in Quick Serve Restaurant Management

Lillian will be awarded a Blue Ribbon for finishing in the top 20 in Marketing Communications and a Red White and Blue Ribbon for finishing in Crater DECA’s highest placing ever, in 2nd place in Marketing Communications, 

She is our first student to raise a DECA glass 🏆!

Shortly after Abe received his awards, the principal allowed all the students to get out of the rain by moving under the stadium cover to sit with their parents. We took a quick photo after the ceremony before hurrying to our car to warm up.

After being closed for proxy work for over a year due to the pandemic, our temple opened in May for a limited number of appointments for performing baptisms. Our temple will close the end of June for 4 months for renovations so we had a tight window to attend the temple together before Abe leaves on his mission. With so few appointments available, Brandan took Thursday off from work so we could attend in the afternoon. We left feeling rejuvenated by the Spirit found in the temple.

On Friday, Brandan and Becky drove to the Rock Point cemetery in Gold Hill to photograph graves for the Find a Grave website. Both Brandan and Becky have used Find a Grave when researching family history and we liked the idea of helping others by expanding the database. Rock Point was the name of a tiny mining town in Southern Oregon. The town no longer exits, but about 1000 people are buried in the cemetery. The largest memorial in the cemetery is this monument recognizing the Ideal Cement Company for its perfect safety record in 1959 and 1960.

We had a delightful and interesting morning looking for grave markers and learning how to photograph them. Most of the cemetery had been photographed for Find a Grave in the early 2000s, but we were able to fill in some missing information and add new photos. We appreciated the sense of humor we found on some of the markers, including this one where the husband and wife seem to be continuing a conversation.

After visiting the cemetery, we helped our dear friend, Leslie, and her husband, John, load their moving truck. Like a lot of Americans right now, Leslie and John are ready to try living somewhere new. They aren't sure where they'll end up, but trust they'll know it when they see it. From the left are Elder Laursen, Elder Harwood, Leslie, Iona, Becky and Brandan.

Brandan bought some artisan bread and cheese for a delicious birthday lunch. 

Prom was canceled, again, for the second year in a row. Instead, Ellie, one of Abe and Abigail's friends from their East Coast trip, planned her own mini prom event. Everyone dressed up for photos followed by dinner at Bella Union and hanging out at Ellie's house. This photo of Abe and Abigail was taken at Touvelle Park along the Rogue River.

 This is a photo of Ben, Jesse, Abigail and Abe outside the restaurant.

Ellie and her mom made this cute backdrop. Back row from the left are Ellie, Kaylee, Alyssa, Hailey and Abigail. Front row: Jesse, Ben and Abe.

On Sunday, Abe received the Melchizedek Priesthood and was ordained to the office of an elder. Grandpa Dan, Grandma Martha and Sofi were able to join through zoom.

Brandan performed the ordinance. Our hearts are full of gratitude for the Lord's gift of priesthood power and for the many, many people who have taught, influenced and led Abe to this day.