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The independent student media site of West Linn High School

wlhsNOW

The independent student media site of West Linn High School

wlhsNOW

Robinwood Station, now official community center, prepares events for city teens

On Aug. 27, Robinwood Station officially opened its doors as a city-owned meeting hall, kicking off its roster of events with an end-of-summer picnic. Since then, the Station has hosted a birthday party, a garage sale fundraiser, and weekly “hula-hoop” nights. Randall Fastabend, president of Friends of Robinwood Station, is proud of the work that has been done with the space so far, but knows there’s a long road ahead.

“Eventually we want to see the space added on to,” Fastabend said. “But first, we need to demonstrate that there is a need for the space. That’s why we’ve established a Youth Board to determine what uses would be best for the youth of West Linn.”

The Youth Board, currently consisting of Kamon Bryck, Class of 2008, Riley Norby, junior, and myself, has the responsibility of organizing events for teens. Fastabend’s goal for the board is to create events that will interest and attract teens all over the community.

The Youth Board most recently met on Sept. 26, and has already planned a dance on Oct. 29 and a Magic the Gathering (a collectible card game, similar to Pokemon) tournament on Oct. 23. They hope to have several successful events in the next couple of months to establish a reputation for the space as a location where students can have fun.

“This space is for all of West Linn,” Fastabend said.

Robinwood Station was first built in 1964, back when Robinwood was an unincorporated community. It was used as a fire station and meeting hall for the neighborhood until West Linn annexed the area in 1968. Since then the space was used as a city fire station, then as storage by Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue.

In 2010, when the Bolton neighborhood opened a new fire station, Fastabend and other members of the Robinwood neighborhood realized that their own fire station would no longer be used. It needed to be renovated and repurposed.

“We decided it needed to be a space the whole city can use,” Fastabend said. Fastabend then founded the Friends of Robinwood Station, a non-profit organization dedicated to turning the old firehouse into a community center.

In March of 2010, the Friends submitted its Temporary Use Application to the city so it could begin transitioning the space into a community center. In June of that year, the City Council voted unanimously to give the Friends the necessary funds to begin renovation. One year later, the Friends got an Occupancy Permit that allowed them to officially reopen and begin operations as a community center.

Many renovations have happened since then. The space now has new windows, a projector, and new lighting, thanks to an initial $1700 community grant. But the work isn’t done yet.

“Our hope is to make this space a showcase for green building in West Linn,” Fastabend said. “In order to do that, we need to secure funding in order to totally renovate the space.”

Now that the station is up and running, it has been used by a Cedaroak Park Primary School Lego robotics club, the West Linn Community Chorus, Cub Scouts, and the Robinwood Neighborhood Association. Currently, in addition to the events being planned by the Youth Board, the Friends are in negotiation with the city to have it be used for Parks and Recreation activities.

“We have a lot of room on our schedule,” Fastabend said, “and it’s space that is open to the whole city.”

Robinwood Station is located at 3706 Cedaroak Drive, West Linn, OR, 97068. For more information about requesting the space or volunteering, contact Randall Fastabend ([email protected]) or Anthony Bracco ([email protected]).

Lucy Newell, pre-kindergarten, hula hooping at Robinwood Station.
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Elise Brown, Co Editor-in-Chief

Elise Brown, senior, has always felt comfortable standing up and giving her opinion in front of everyone and for the most part, she enjoys it very much.  That is one of the many reasons why she heads the debate team, and also why in June she earned a place in the National Speech and Debate Competition in Indianapolis.

Out of the 250 people entered in the competition, she finished 151st in the country.  Before she earned her rightful place in Nationals, however, she needed to prove herself in Districts and State.

Her 10 minute long speech about socialism and its benefits took first and second in Districts and State, respectively.

“In the National competition the judges didn’t appreciate politics or controversy as much as they did in Districts and State,” Brown said.  This was confirmed from one of the judges she conversed with in order to find out what she could do better.

Brown’s interest in current events started in the eighth grade.  She then did the Amplifier, the high school newspaper to help communicate her ideas about the world with her fellow peers, she also did the debate team to better understand the problems throughout the world and learn how to solve them somewhat.

“Debate involves knowing what is going on in the world,”  Brown said.

This year for upcoming competitions, she has a speech in the works that she feels will top her last one.  This year’s speech is about interdependence inspired by the “you didn’t build that debate,” caused when President Barack Obama told business people that they did not create their businesses on their own.

Brown’s passion for debate has influenced what college she will go to, what she will study in college, and what she wants to do in her life.  Brown’s goal is to graduate high school and then travel to Massachusetts and attend Wellesley College, a very well known and prestigious college, where Brown hopes to study political science.

To achieve this goal she has taken part in a number of rigorous courses and activities such as Speech and Debate, AP Government, AP Economics, Honors Law, AP English and journalism.  Once Brown achieves her education goals, her next goal is to become a political commentator.

“I want to change people’s minds,”  Brown said.  Brown has chosen the path to become a political commentator because she believes political power lies with the media.

Brown has worked very hard throughout high school and continues to work hard through her senior year.  She has taken many challenging courses to achieve her goal of going to Wellesley, and will need to continue down the very rigorous path to success to accomplish her goals.

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Robinwood Station, now official community center, prepares events for city teens