Eagle Point School District 9
Community Newsletter, October 2026
Creativity, Courage and CTE: EPHS Student Takes Learning Beyond the Classroom
For Eagle Point High School junior Kailey Gill, creativity does not always start with a blank canvas. Sometimes, it starts with a welder, a roll cage, and an off-road competition truck named “Flippy.”
Kailey is a student in EPHS teacher Langston’s Welding and Fabrication class, where she is taking on an ambitious project that combines Career and Technical Education skills with a passion she has been developing since she was a child.
Her project is an off-road competition truck originally owned by her dad. Kailey plans to strip much of the existing metal body from the truck, reinforce portions of the roll cage, and rebuild the exterior with new panels.
It is a project that requires more than knowing how to weld. Kailey has to think like a fabricator, identify problems, design solutions, and consider how every decision will affect the truck when it returns to competition.
One of those decisions is whether to weld the new body panels directly to the truck or make them removable with bolts. Kailey is leaning toward removable panels for a very practical reason: damage is part of the sport.
The truck earned its nickname, “Flippy,” because it has rolled more than once during off-road adventures and competitions. Kailey knows firsthand how quickly parts can become damaged. During one competition, a boulder went through the driver-side door, forcing her to stop mid-event.
Instead of seeing that damage simply as a setback, Kailey sees a design challenge.
By fabricating removable panels, damaged sections could be unbolted and replaced instead of requiring her to grind away welded metal and start over. To make that possible, she plans to weld metal mounting tabs onto the roll cage, giving her secure points for the new panels.
That kind of problem-solving is at the heart of CTE at Eagle Point High School. Students are not only learning technical skills, but they are learning how to adapt, create, and turn an idea into something functional.
For Kailey, those lessons also connect to courage.
She first began driving off-road vehicles around age 9 or 10 after being introduced to the sport by her dad. At first, she was scared of it.
That changed when she moved from the passenger seat to the driver’s seat.
Once she began driving, fear turned into excitement, and eventually, competition.
Kailey has now competed in three off-road events, primarily rock-crawling competitions that challenge drivers to navigate difficult terrain while racing against the clock. In her first competition in Myrtle Creek, Kailey finished second.
Now she is bringing those experiences back into the EPHS welding shop.
Her first step is removing the doors and existing body panels. From there, she plans to evaluate the roll cage, reinforce portions of it, and begin fabricating the truck’s new exterior.
Every cut, weld, and design decision moves Kailey closer to getting “Flippy” back on the rocks.
More importantly, the project shows what can happen when students are given opportunities to connect what they learn at school with something they genuinely care about.
Through Career and Technical Education and fabrication opportunities at Eagle Point High School, Kailey is building much more than a competition truck. She is building technical skills, confidence, and the ability to tackle a challenge, rethink a problem, and create her own solution.
And when “Flippy” is ready to compete again, Kailey plans to be right where she discovered she belonged years ago: in the driver’s seat.
Lunar Landing Project Brings Learning to Life at White Mountain Middle School
Students at White Mountain Middle School kicked off the school year with a challenge that required creativity, problem-solving, and a little bit of space exploration.
In Michael Harding’s MAPS class for grades 6–8, students took part in a Lunar Landing Project, a hands-on activity that challenged them to design and build a spacecraft capable of safely landing its “astronauts,” marshmallows, while keeping the vessel upright.
Similar to the classic egg-drop experiment, students were given limited supplies and tasked with developing their own landing systems. Before beginning, Harding introduced students to examples of how NASA uses propulsion and other systems to safely land spacecraft. From there, students had the freedom to create.
“They get to problem-solve and try different things,” Harding said. “They get to see a lot of what their peers do, and then from there they can build.”
The first landing wasn't always successful, and that was part of the lesson.
Harding described one student whose astronauts fell out during the first attempt. After watching classmates test their designs, the student identified ideas that worked, incorporated them into a new design, and successfully completed the next landing.
That process of testing, learning, redesigning, and trying again was at the heart of the project.
“It’s really nice to look at that problem-solving of seeing, ‘Oh, mine didn’t work. So how can I improve upon it this next time?’” Harding said.
For student Ronald, the appeal was a little simpler. After his first spacecraft landed but tipped over, he was already thinking about another attempt. Asked what he liked about the project, Ronald said it was a “blast” because students got to build their own spaceships and then put them to the test.
Beyond being fun, Harding said activities like the Lunar Landing Project give students opportunities to develop critical-thinking skills, learn from one another, and explore unconventional ideas.
“It gives them a time to also just be creative and try things maybe that aren’t super conventional and then see if it does work,” Harding said.
For Harding, the project was also an opportunity to begin the school year by showing students that learning can be active, creative, and unexpected. Once students realized what they would be doing, he said the entire class became engaged.
“They were all coming up with different ideas,” Harding said. “It’s going to make them excited to come to school because they never know what they’re going to do next.”
At White Mountain Middle School, sometimes learning really is rocket science, marshmallow astronauts included.
Dinner plans are handled, and you can support Eagle Point High School Theatre at the same time!
On Tuesday, October 6, head to Chipotle in Medford between 4:00 and 8:00 p.m. and help us pack the restaurant with EPHS supporters. 25% of event sales will be donated directly to the EPHS Theatre Department, so bring the family, grab your friends, and make your dinner count!
Ordering online? Use code NGFAC6E for pickup. Dining in? Just show the fundraiser flyer when you order.
Good food. Great cause. One night to show up BIG for EPHS Theatre. Save the date and don’t miss it!
Bargaining Update 9/30/26
The District and the Association continued contract bargaining discussions on multiple contract articles, exchanging proposals and engaging in detailed conversations on several remaining areas of the contract. The District and EPEA reached Tentative Agreements (TAs) on Articles 8, 11, 18, and 26. Both parties identified areas where additional discussion is needed with the upcoming bargaining session scheduled for October 9.
