Grant School District has received the 2006-07 OASE Excellence in Curriculum Leadership Award.  The Excellence in Curriculum Leadership Award annually recognizes a unique curriculum program designed to enhance student achievement and is adaptable to other districts.

The Canyon City district earned the award for its multi-faceted, interdisciplinary Seneca School History Project.  During the project, students research and study the history of Bear Valley, where Seneca School is set.  The project has been ongoing for five years, and the activities and projects are continuous throughout all grades (K-8).

Various class products have emerged from the project, including a mural of Seneca as a company town, a 60-panel illustrated timeline of Bear Valley from prehistory to the present, a student-narrated PowerPoint presentation of the timeline on CD, a musical performance of songs related to Seneca history, oral presentations, a historic model of the town, and a map of the company town of Seneca.  Students have also completed a 100-page book of narratives drawn from oral interviews of Seneca residents from its early days, and most recently, a museum display case with artifacts collected and cataloged by student curators.

The project has benefited from several valuable resources, including the local interviewees, local historians, United States Forest Service personnel in archaeology, mapping, and geology, museum curators, website developers, Soil and Water Conservation employees, county road historian and an artist-in-residence.  This project may be easily adapted to other school situations, since every school exists in a community that has its own history.

The award was presented to Grant Superintendent Newell Cleaver at the OSBA Conference on November 11.

Other districts that submitted outstanding applications included Roseburg School District, Umatilla-Morrow ESD, Amity School District, McKenzie School District and Ione School District.