Community Briefs for Nov. 14, 2019

Grape-ful Women to host 'Wine and Toys' event Nov. 17 at Camas wine bar The Grape-ful Women group will host its seventh annual Wine and Toys event at Salud! Wine Bar in Camas from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17. The event, a benefit for homeless families and children at Open House Ministries family shelter in Vancouver, includes wine tasting, food pairings, music by Avi Haviv, a silent auction and a raffle for a $100 Target gift card. Attendees are asked to pay $15 to help offset the cost of wine and food, as well as an unwrapped toy for a boy or girl, or gift card for an older child, to go to the children at the Open House Ministries family shelter. Grape-ful Women is a nonprofit for women who enjoy wine tasting, meeting new people and helping their community at the same time. Founded in 2012, the nonprofit includes board members Randi Bass, the group's founder and president; Charlotte Bruce, a founder and vice president of the group; Lynda Lathrup, a founder and sommelier; and board members Michelle Holeman and Linda Anderson. Salud! Wine Bar is located at 224 N.E. Third Ave., Camas. WHS holds careers conference Washougal High School (WHS) held its second annual Pathways Conference for students on Thursday, Nov. 7, focusing on careers in hospitality, tourism, human services, agriculture and natural resources. The event was designed to prepare students for the world of work while bringing a more personal approach to the standard "Career Day." "We're really trying to provide students with exposure to a professional conference setting while giving them an 'up close and personal' learning experience from local business folks about career pathways that are of interest to them," Margaret Rice, Washougal School District's (WSD) career and technical education director, said in a news release Conference planning began last year in order to identify and recruit a wide variety of professionals to speak. "We had representatives from Disney College to Agri business to event planning," Lisa Leonard, WSD's career specialist and work site learning coordinator, said in the news release. "We are so grateful to all of our speakers who took time out of their busy day and away from their businesses to share their expertise. Many were either Washougal residents, alumni or own a business in Washougal." The conference keynote speaker was WHS alumnus Matthieu Grant, who spoke about opportunities and skills needed to work for Disney. Other break session speakers included Drew Bergerson, Quest Events; Alex Yost, Our Bar; Mychal Dynes, Little Conejo; Michelle Weeks, Good Rain Farm; Robert Hensley, iFill Cup; Nathan Day, You Move Me; Beth Nelson, United Flight Attendant; Tera Yano, Sea Mar; Jayodin J. Mosher NIC-M, Interpreter for Sorenson; and LaDonna Davis, Cosmetology, Hairy Kari's. After a morning of speakers, students loaded buses to visit either Ilani Casino in Ridgefield or Skamania Lodge in Stevenson. "Both businesses went out of their way to show students a wide variety of career opportunities," Leonard said. The Ilani Casino Human Resources representatives provided students with a complete overview of career opportunities as well as a tour of their guest services. "They were very encouraging to the students," Leonard said. "You could tell they are very passionate about what they do." Students also heard about the company's tuition reimbursement for full-time employees and how they promote from within. "Students were able to hear about every aspect of guest services at Skamania Lodge," Leonard said. "The team there is great. Our culinary teacher would hope to build an apprenticeship program with Skamania for students interested in hospitality careers." "Our goal is to have a pathway conference each year, covering all 16 career clusters over a four-year period," Rice said. "That way our students have the opportunity to participate in a different conference each year of their high school career."

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