Tom McCall kids celebrate namesake’s 100th birthday

Fifth-graders from Tom McCall Elementary School celebrated 100 years of their school’s namesake Monday.

The celebration took place at the Tom McCall Ranch, located on a hill by the Crooked River, between Redmond and Prineville. The students spent the morning participating in history activities, creating maps and doing speaking and writing projects.

Students said it was a fun experience to learn about McCall on the land he grew up on.

The former governor who championed protected, permanent public beach access, land-use planning and the “Bottle Bill” died in 1983 at the age of 69; last March, he would have turned 100.

“I think it’s pretty cool, being able to come out here,” said Tom McCall fifth-grader Kainoa Dickson. “We get to like explore what it was like 100 years ago where he lived as a child.”

Karlyn Breitvach, another fifth-grader, said, “Well, it’s different than looking in a textbook and reading it, because we actually get to come out and see it with our own eyes. And coming out and like getting to work with people on how to learn and what to learn.”

Mrs. Turner, whose class participated in Monday’s celebration, said the experience was a great one. It gave her students way more knowledge then they ever could have received from a textbook.