Hucrest Elementary School

Hucrest Elementary School in Roseburg, Oregon celebrates its 50th anniversary in the 2006-2007 school year. The school takes its name from the surrounding suburb, named after Cecil Hugh and Alice Hugh. The school's mascot is the Hucrest Hawk.

History

The school site originally formed part of 30 acres that belonged to Clara Sanford, from whom the Hughs bought the land. The Hughs sold the 11.94 acres on which the school was erected to the Roseburg School District No. 4 on May 12, 1955. (Northcraft n.d.:2). Whether the school first opened its doors to students in Fall 1955 or 1956 is unclear.

The school buildings were developed in different phases.

The first buildings included a hall with six classrooms for grades 3 to 6, a multi-purpose room, and offices. Technological features at Hucrest Elementary included intercom, 16mm film projectors, and wire recorders. Students completed grades 1 and 2 at either Edenbower, Oregon and Riverside, Oregon schools. No kitchen existed, although an unfinished room marked the space of the future kitchen. Lunches were brought over from Edenbower. Unusual for the time, playground equipment were installed when the school opened. The playground was surfaced with sawdust and gravel (the latter is still used today). The school was surrounded by much open land, and cattle grazed in the adjoining fields. Sports offered included softball for girls and football for boys (Northcraft n.d.:3).

A second hall was planned in 1957, which added six more classrooms.

A third hall was planned in May 1961, and a kitchen was completed in November that year.

Plans for a gym and a library were completed on November 24, 1965. Fences and asphalt were added the following year.

Chess Club

The chess club at Hucrest Elementary has a strong record, regularly winning the regional tournaments.

* 1990: 1st place (Tied) in the Oregon Scholastic Chess Foundation (OSCF) 5th Grade Individual competition [cite news | work = Sunday Oregonian | date = March 11, 1990 | title = Chess contest ends with ties | accessdate = 2007-07-03 ]
* 1991: 1st place in the OSCF/OMSI K-5th Grade Team chess championship, and tied first in the Individual championship. [cite news | work = Sunday Oregonian | date = March 10, 1991 | title = High school sophomore wins chess tournament | accessdate = 2007-07-03 ] [cite news | work = The Oregonian | date = April 1, 1991 | title = Chess Kings head for NY | accessdate = 2007-07-03 ] They placed 8th in the National Elementary School Chess Championship K-6 Under 900 Division.
* 2002: 142nd Individual in the National Elementary School Chess Championship K-6 Under 900 Division
* 2004: 1st placed team in regional K-5 and 6-8 divisions
* 2005: Hucrest represented Douglas County at the Oregon Chess for Success Tournament in March at Portland, where the team placed 4th. Two Hucrest players came 5th and 7th in the state tournament's 5th Grade and K-4th Grade competitions.
* 2008: Individual players place 3rd in the Oregon Scholastic Chess Federation's state tournament, and 2nd in the Chess For Success State tournament. [http://www.nwsrs.org/nwsrs.jsp?panel=content/readContent.jsp&ArticleID=431]

Kay Bjornson, who stepped down as CEO of Cascade Community Federal Credit Union in 2005, taught chess at the school for "around eight years" as of 2005. [cite news | url = http://www.newsreview.info/article/20050307/NEWS/103070050 | title = To his good credit | date = March 7, 2005 | work = The News-Review, Roseburg, OR | accessdate = 2007-07-03 ]

Principals

* 1955-1958 : Earl Ladd
* 1958-1974 : Joe Scallon
* 1975-1984 : Dennis Acton
* 1985-1993 : Ron Singler. Before working at Hucrest, Ron was the principal of Riddle Elementary School from 1968-1970. As of 2007, he is the President of the Alumni Association of Southern Oregon University. [cite web | url = http://www.sou.edu/alumni/board.shtml | title = Alumni Association Board of Directors 2005-2006 | work = Southern Oregon University | accessdate = 2007-07-04 ]
* 1993-2004 : John Crouch; stepped down to take on the position of principal of Fir Grove Elementary Schoolcite news | url = http://www.newsreview.info/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040305/NEWS/103050033 | title = Four Roseburg principals will swap places or retire next fall | author = Danielle Gillespie | date = March 5, 2004 | work = The News-Review | accessdate = 2007-07-03 ] where he still serves as of 2007. [cite web | url = http://www.newsreview.info/article/20070226/STUDENTS/70226042 | title = Principal agrees to shave head | date = February 26, 2007 | work = The News-Review, Roseburg, OR | accessdate = 2007-07-04 ]
* 2004-present : Jeff Plummer

In the school newsletter for April 2006, principal Jeff Plummer informed the community that principal Joe Scallon had "passed away recently." [cite web | url = http://www.roseburg.k12.or.us/hucrest/documents/newsletter_april_2006.pdf | date = April 14, 2006 | title = The Impact of an Educator | author = Jeff Plummer | work = Hucrest Elementary School Newsletter | accessdate = 2007-07-04 ]

References

reflistNorthcraft, Lori. n.d. Hucrest School. Unpublished document.

Further reading

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External links

* [http://www.roseburg.k12.or.us/hucrest Website]
* [http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=4110710&ID=411071000292 Fact sheet] by Institute of Education Sciences
* [http://www.roseburg.k12.or.us/hucrest/ChessClubTrophies.htm Chess Club Trophies]