Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Colfax teacher Altaira Bogle speaks to school board members May 6.
As the Colfax High School class of 2019 prepares to graduate Saturday, one particular class has a stake in what happens next.
Altaira Bogle, a six-year teacher at Colfax, leads Senior Transitions – a required year-long class for 12th-graders which covers career investigation, scholarships, writing cover letters, college applications and resumes. Also, it covers how to rent an apartment, buy a car, live with roommates, read a lease, budget for groceries, handle personal finance, utility bills, financial aid and filing taxes.
"I like to call it Adulting 101," Bogle said.
The Colfax district has made Senior Transitions a two-semester requirement while many districts offer it as an elective.
The class, or something similar, was not taught at Olympic High School in Bremerton when Bogle was a student.
"Colfax has deemed it one of the most important courses of senior year," Bogle said. "It's cross-curriculum. Why do we do these certain things (in other classes), I get to tell them why. That's one of the things I love most, for the kids to see how relevant it is."
The class differs from traditional home economics with a focus on what can be used everyday as well as what could be a career.
"It's not home ec. anymore," Bogle said. "I don't teach sewing. There's no market for it."
Beginning
Bogle took over Senior Transitions from Cathy White, who taught at Colfax for 41 years.
White and counselor Janet Foley started the class in 1998.
"We saw that there were things kids needed when they were leaving high school," said White. "Lots of things that helped the kids, I think, that they didn't get anywhere else."
White started teaching home econmoics at Colfax in 1973. In her second year, a new class was added, Bachelor Living, for boys.
"Then it all went together in home economics," said White.
Senior projects
Bogle is also Colfax's senior projects advisor, for which she made a change to its format four years ago with approval from then-Principal Buck Marsh. Senior projects now consists of all job shadows.
Starting in Senior Transitions class, a student researches and investigates three careers, then does one job shadow for a minimum of eight hours.
"I wanted to make sure the time was spent on an interest that was more than a hobby," Bogle said of the change to senior projects. "I hate wasting time or money. So they can find at least a direction for college. It's just as important to find out what they don't want to do."
Some job shadows for this year's seniors included police ride-alongs, nursing, counseling, engineering, farm management and wine making.
In January, each Colfax student gives a presentation on their project at a community night. It was moved from May two years ago, to alleviate the number of senior events at that time.
Culinary Arts
For the first year at Colfax, 2018-19, Culinary Arts, also taught by Bogle, is a science credit.
Before, it was a career and technical education elective.
To prepare for the science credit, Bogle added to the material for the state's "Next Generation" science standards, putting in more chemistry – such as how certain ingredients mix with each other – and a section on foodborne illnesses.
She teaches the class in seventh period each day, to mostly sophomores through seniors.
It's now held in the upstairs youth group room of the Nazarene Church as Bogle's original classroom is being remodeled as part of phase one of school re-construction.
"It's quiet, compared to the construction noise," Bogle said. "I'm definitely making it work."
Instead of full class days in the kitchen, students now take turns, with half the class working the two-oven church kitchen and half working on an assignment at tables.
A total of 24 kids take the class, the maximum.
"It's always a full course," Bogle said.
Pete Koerner from the Top Notch Cafe came down May 13 and taught how to barbecue New York strip steaks and elk burgers in the parking lot.
Five Classes
Bogle teaches a total of five classes; Family Health (ninth grade), Early Childhood Education (10th-12th) and Skills for Living (8th) – a precursor for the others, which includes basic nutrition, hemming pants, sewing on a button and early childcare.
"Those two max out every single year," Bogle said of student count in Senior Transitions and Family Health, adding on Culinary Arts.
So what brought all of this on?
"I feel like it's coming from college," Bogle said. "Professors are reporting that a lot of students are not prepared for independent living."
Originally from Bremerton, Bogle went to WSU for her undergraduate degree then got a master's in secondary teaching through Grand Canyon University.
She spent three years in North Dakota at the start of her career, teaching pre-school and cheer advising.
"I had a bigger passion to work with the high school kids at the time," she said.
In Colfax, she first taught one year of social studies. After her master's degree, Bogle got her family, consumer science endorsement at WSU.
"There's a need, but nobody can teach it," she said. "It'll expand, it'll grow. I'm just one of the lucky ones that has a job doing it now."
People say schools don't teach these things anymore.
"I'm trying to prove them all wrong," Bogle said.
What does she like most about what she does?
"I like it when the kids come back and they tell me how much they used it," she said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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