509J Newsroom

We are thrilled to announce Bailey Daniels as the next head coach for softball at Madras High School. Daniels spent her first year with the team last season serving as an assistant coach and head JV coach, and she is currently serving as a 6th grade PE and Health teacher for JCMS. She’ll be taking over the program following Shawna McConnell’s retirement. This will be the first new head coach for the program in 17 seasons. 

“She taught me a lot about the community and about the history of the program,” Daniels said. “I was very lucky to work under her and learn from her in my one year as a JV coach. I would give her a huge shout out and thank her for dedicating so many years to the team. That was amazing.” 

Daniels has been playing softball just about as long as she remembers. She’s loved the sport from the time she first picked up a glove around 8 years old. She grew up in Southern Oregon, calling Roseburg home. The years playing travel and high school ball there shaped her into who she became as an athlete, and as a person. 

“My coaches had a tremendous impact on me, not just in developing my skills, but in building my confidence, work ethic, and love for competitiveness,” she said.

Game after game, Daniels built a strong foundation in softball  that carried her into college athletics, where she competed as a Division I collegiate rower for Oregon State. 

“The discipline, teamwork, and resilience I learned on the softball field absolutely helped me succeed at that level,” she said.

She is thrilled to coach the young athletes that make up this program. She sees it as an opportunity for herself to give back and give these girls the same positive experience she had as a player. 

The countdown to Spring is on for Daniels already. She  is excited to watch these athletes learn, grow and gain confidence in themselves. Both as student athletes and young people. 

“I’m looking forward to bringing fresh ideas, a competitive mindset, and a clear vision for what Madras softball can become,” she said. 

Daniels takes over a program that struggled last season. They finished last in the Tri-Valley and had a run differential of -194. Her main goal for 2026 is to approach the year with a fresh, competitive mindset. Emphasis on competitive. 

“I want us to step onto the field ready to challenge ourselves and compete strongly within our league,” she said. “Establishing that confidence and grit early will set the tone for the program moving forward.” 

Another important goal for Daniels is to strengthen the program overall. This includes fundraising efforts, improving team facilities, and increasing involvement in the community through volunteer work. 

Lastly, she wants to continue the tradition of the Spring Break Lady Buff Classic tournament MHS has hosted the past couple of years. She sees this as a great opportunity to bring teams and families together and showcase what MHS Softball has to offer for the season. 

When she isn’t coaching or teaching, you can catch Daniels on the river in her driftboat fly fishing, or in the marsh waterfowl hunting, or spending her time camping in the woods. 

We are thrilled to announce Mario Mendoza as the next Head Coach for Track & Field at Madras High School. Mendoza has been a fixture around the program for the past several years serving as a volunteer assistant coach. He’ll be taking over the program following Mike Dove’s retirement. 

“I feel super blessed,” Mendoza said. “Mike was always very open to me helping out and being a part of the team. “I feel very lucky in regards to having learned from him but I also feel like he’s brought the team to such a good place. Both with other coaches and with athletes and with the organization.” 

Mendoza’s love for running started in high school, while attending Coast Union High School in San Luis Obispo County, California. He found himself sidelined from the soccer team after sustaining an injury. With soccer out of reach, he jogged around his school’s dirt track. 

“It was a fun way to rehab and heal from the injury,” he said. 

That injury changed the trajectory of his life though. Running quietly grabbed hold and never let go. His love for running led him to competing in track and field and cross country at first in high school and then in college.  

Mendoza attended UC Davis before transferring to St. Mary’s College of California in the bay area. 

“That was when I really started to do better,” he said. “I got my own rhythm, learned myself, and, ended up breaking a bunch of school records there, finished 4th at the West Coast Conference for division one, which was a pretty big and hard division to compete in. So, that’s where the running started to take off.” 

This stretch of running in college, finding his rhythm, learning his body and how to prepare for competition, did more than fill a record board. It built the foundation for what was to come, a successful professional trail running career that took him around the world. He took his love for running on pavement and around an oval to running singletrack trails in the mountains. 

“Since I was a kid, even when I wasn’t a runner, I loved exploring. I just loved being in the mountains. I love being in nature. What ended up happening is that as soon as I started dabbling more with trail running, like just got on the trails and in the mountains, I just completely fell in love with it.”

Three different companies signed Mendoza to their racing team throughout his career. The first was Nike Trail, then Skechers, and his last eight years have been with Brooks running. Throughout his career, he’s competed in more than 100 trail races ranging in distance from 10 to 100 miles. He capped his prolific career off with an exclamation point, winning his final race, Ultramarathon Guatemala 100k, in November. Now the next chapter of running will be leading the White Buffaloes Track & Field team.

“It’s exciting for me to now be able to jump in more,” he said. “I feel very connected to the team and I’ve seen the team just steadily kind of grow and steadily do better in competition. I’m excited just to bring a lot of knowledge that I have in terms of what it takes to succeed and what it takes to get to another level.”

He is ready to hit the ground running and has his eyes set on his goals for the 2026 season.

“My first goal is always that we become better people and better athletes,” he said. “We can win districts and we can take the whole team to state so I have a goal of that. I know that with patience and trust and discipline, I just think there’s a lot of talent in this team and in the coaches, and I think a lot of cool stuff can happen.”

Outside of coaching and competing, Mendoza prioritizes spending time outdoors with his family. Whether that be camping, fishing, or hiking with his wife, Jade, and two boys, Jair and Ezekiel.

Each year during Homecoming, we take time to honor and celebrate Madras High graduates who have gone on to achieve great things and make a difference in their communities and beyond. Through our Distinguished Alumni program, we recognize individuals whose accomplishments, service, and leadership reflect the values of MHS. This program aims to inspire our current students by showing them what is possible and what individuals who used to walk the same halls they do now have gone on to accomplish.

This year, we’re proud to welcome two new inductees to our Distinguished Alumni: Lewis E Pitt Jr., and Angie Namenuk. We recognized both of them at our Homecoming Assembly on October 3. Lewis E Pitt Jr could not join us unfortunately on that day in person due to health reasons.

Lewis E Pitt Jr.

Born in 1948 at the Warm Springs Indian Health Service Hospital, Lewis E. Pitt Jr., Yowan Swickt, is a proud Tribal Member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

Throughout his career, he dedicated himself to protecting natural resources, strengthening Tribal sovereignty, and making sure that his people’s collective voice was heard. He served as Assistant Director of Planning and Implementation for the Warm Springs Natural Resources Department. During his time there, he worked to restore streams on the reservation and protect waterways across the region. His leadership extended past Warm Springs, as he represented the Tribes in other management plans throughout Oregon that included the Lower Deschutes, John Day, and Metolius rivers.

He also served eight years on the Columbia River Gorge Commission and played a key role in educating the state legislature about the Treaty of 1855 with the Middle Oregon Tribes. His primary focus was focused on reminding leaders of honoring his people’s off-reservation rights to fish, gather roots, hunt, and pick berries.

He has served the Tribes well throughout his roles. Those include service on the Tribal Appeals Court and Director of Government Affairs. He also served for three years on the Pacific Northwest Conservation and Power Council where he focused on serving as a representative for our state and fighting to improve issues affecting fisheries across the state.

Angie Namenuk 

Angie Namenuk spent her childhood growing up in the high desert of Oregon, splitting her childhood between Culver and Madras, to becoming a leader for one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and leading providers for cancer treatments globally, Roche.

She moved to Madras just before high school, where she was an active student, participating in both athletics and student body leadership. These activities instilled in her the values of hard work and collaboration that would prove to be foundational throughout her life. Inspired by her love of science, she studied chemistry at Willamette University. Following that, she earned an internship in Genentech’s research labs to start her career.

Since then, she has held positions of increasing global responsibility in Research, Drug Development Project Management, scientific operations, and Finance. Through her roles, she’s had the opportunity to travel the world. Visiting different countries, such as Switzerland, Japan, Spain, Costa Rica, Canada, and Tanzania, regularly. She is currently the Global Head of Research and Early Development Procurement Partnering for Roche.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from Willamette University, a Master’s in Business from Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, a Certificate in Project Management from UC Berkeley, and is a Certified Professional Coach. In 2021, Angie was recognized by Pharma Voice as one of the top 100 inspiring leaders in the life sciences industry.

Beyond her professional accomplishments, Angie truly believes in community service. She helped lead a campaign that ultimately raised $74M for local schools. She has coached more than 30 boys and girls youth sports teams ranging from softball, baseball, basketball and soccer and volunteered her time for a number of school events.

She also co-founded the Kahawa Foundation, which built a healthcare clinic in rural Tanzania and funded women’s health projects. She continues to pursue these passions by seeking out local and global volunteer opportunities.

 

 

Each year during Homecoming, we take time to honor and celebrate Madras High graduates who have gone on to achieve great things and make a difference in their communities and beyond. Through our Distinguished Alumni program, we recognize individuals whose accomplishments, service, and leadership reflect the values of MHS. This program aims to inspire our current students by showing them what is possible and what individuals who used to walk the same halls they do now have gone on to accomplish.

This year, we’re proud to welcome two new inductees to our Distinguished Alumni: Lewis E Pitt Jr., and Angie Namenuk. We recognized both of them at our Homecoming Assembly on October 3. Lewis E Pitt Jr could not join us unfortunately on that day in person due to health reasons.

Lewis E Pitt Jr.

Born in 1948 at the Warm Springs Indian Health Service Hospital, Lewis E. Pitt Jr., Yowan Swickt, is a proud Tribal Member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

Throughout his career, he dedicated himself to protecting natural resources, strengthening Tribal sovereignty, and making sure that his people’s collective voice was heard. He served as Assistant Director of Planning and Implementation for the Warm Springs Natural Resources Department. During his time there, he worked to restore streams on the reservation and protect waterways across the region. His leadership extended past Warm Springs, as he represented the Tribes in other management plans throughout Oregon that included the Lower Deschutes, John Day, and Metolius rivers.

He also served eight years on the Columbia River Gorge Commission and played a key role in educating the state legislature about the Treaty of 1855 with the Middle Oregon Tribes. His primary focus was focused on reminding leaders of honoring his people’s off-reservation rights to fish, gather roots, hunt, and pick berries.

He has served the Tribes well throughout his roles. Those include service on the Tribal Appeals Court and Director of Government Affairs. He also served for three years on the Pacific Northwest Conservation and Power Council where he focused on serving as a representative for our state and fighting to improve issues affecting fisheries across the state.

Angie Namenuk

Angie Namenuk spent her childhood growing up in the high desert of Oregon, splitting her childhood between Culver and Madras, to becoming a leader for one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and leading providers for cancer treatments globally, Roche.

She moved to Madras just before high school, where she was an active student, participating in both athletics and student body leadership. These activities instilled in her the values of hard work and collaboration that would prove to be foundational throughout her life. Inspired by her love of science, she studied chemistry at Willamette University. Following that, she earned an internship in Genentech’s research labs to start her career.

Since then, she has held positions of increasing global responsibility in Research, Drug Development Project Management, scientific operations, and Finance. Through her roles, she’s had the opportunity to travel the world. Visiting different countries, such as Switzerland, Japan, Spain, Costa Rica, Canada, and Tanzania, regularly. She is currently the Global Head of Research and Early Development Procurement Partnering for Roche.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from Willamette University, a Master’s in Business from Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, a Certificate in Project Management from UC Berkeley, and is a Certified Professional Coach. In 2021, Angie was recognized by Pharma Voice as one of the top 100 inspiring leaders in the life sciences industry.

Beyond her professional accomplishments, Angie truly believes in community service. She helped lead a campaign that ultimately raised $74M for local schools. She has coached more than 30 boys and girls youth sports teams ranging from softball, baseball, basketball and soccer and volunteered her time for a number of school events.

She also co-founded the Kahawa Foundation, which built a healthcare clinic in rural Tanzania and funded women’s health projects. She continues to pursue these passions by seeking out local and global volunteer opportunities.

Last school year, our libraries saw more students expressing interest in checking out books. 32,430 books were checked out. That is the most checkouts we’ve seen in a single year in seven whole years! That number also represents the third highest total over a 10-year span.

We have our school librarians to thank for the increased interest in our libraries. The work they’ve been performing over the past four years has been extraordinary. Librarians have been updating their collections through student input, professional networks and conferences. This was all possible thanks to a grant our district acquired in 2020.

Not only did students browse their library collections more frequently and check out more books, they also had greater success in statewide reading initiatives such as the Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB). 

Both Buff and Madras Elementary schools made the Elite 8 at the regional tournament last year.  The regional tournament consisted of teams from Wasco, Crook, Grant, Harney, Deschutes and Jefferson Counties. Having two teams make the Elite 8 at the highly competitive tournament was a first for our district. 

At the secondary level, Jefferson County Middle School finished first at a tournament in Redmond and earned a bronze medal at the regional tournament in Bend, just missing out on a berth to state. The two top teams at the regional tournament qualify for state. 

Not to be outdone, the White Buffaloes of Madras High School defeated Baker City in the regional final and punched the school’s first ever trip to the state tournament in Salem.    

With the new school year underway, our libraries are already in the process of building on their success from last year. New book orders have been submitted, checkouts are occurring and planning is underway for another successful season of OBOB!      

Dear Jefferson County School District 509J Families,

Welcome to this new 2025-26 school year!  I am so excited for the new school year that is just a little more than two weeks from today!  Our teachers and staff will be returning to schools and classrooms in days ahead as we begin those last preparations for the start of another awesome year.  We are eager to support and work with your student(s) in the year ahead.

We are welcoming most of our students on Wednesday, September 3. See below for specific school and grade first day details.

First Days of School

Grades 1-6 and Grade 9: Wednesday, September 3

Grades 1-8 (Warm Springs K8 Academy): Wednesday, September 3

Grades 7-8 & 10-12: Thursday, September 4

We ask our Pre-school and Kindergarten families to check in with your school to find out when your incoming student will start.

In our district, one of our core values is ‘Students Flourish Here.’ We know that our students will do their best work when they can fully focus and connect with their teachers and classmates without distractions from personal electronic devices like cell phones.

At the start of the school year, one change you’ll see is we are expanding our ‘off and away’ expectations from our secondary schools to district-wide. This means all students will be asked to keep phones and other electronic devices turned off and put away from the start to the end of the school day. 

To make this work, we will need the support and teamwork from our staff, students, and families. You can learn more about what this looks like in our schools and see some frequently asked questions by visiting our website, here.

Schools are hosting Open House events in the coming weeks.  Please check with your school to learn specific details for those events.

School	Date
Buff Elementary	Thursday, August 28, 4-6pm
Metolius Elementary	Thursday, August 28, 4-6pm
Madras Elementary	Thursday, August 28, 4-6pm
WSK8	Thursday, August 28, 4-6pm
Bridges High (Including ROOTS)	Thursday, August 28, 4-6pm (Will be at WSK8 Back to School BBQ)
JCMS	Wednesday, August 27, 5-6:30pm
MHS	Tuesday, September 2, 4:30-6:30pm
509J Online	Tuesday, September 2, 10am-2pm
509J Preschool	Wednesday, August 27, 4-6pm

As we begin a new school year, please help your student attend school each day.  We know that students who attend school regularly are able to access more learning and have much better chances of being able to read, write and succeed in math at their appropriate grade level or beyond.  Attending school regularly is the secret to positive social and learning experiences in school.

Thank you for partnering with your child’s school.  This 2025-26 school year is going to be a great one!

Serving 509J Schools,

Dr. Jay Mathisen, Superintendent

On Wednesday, June 11, our district came together to celebrate ten incredible staff members at our annual Retirement Breakfast Ceremony. Whether serving in the classroom, behind the scenes, or in leadership roles, each retiree has played a vital role in making our schools a place where students flourish.

Among this year’s retirees, five retirees have dedicated more than 20 years to our district, a milestone that speaks to their dedication to educating and supporting the youth in our community. 

At the breakfast, held in their honor, supervisors shared stories of their impact over the years, remembering moments that made these individuals truly stand out. We know that this next chapter will be filled with new adventures, well-earned rest, and hopefully, plenty of joy. We wish each of our retirees a happy and fun retirement and extend a big thank you for their years of service.

Congratulations on an outstanding career to each of you. 

JCSD 509J 2025 Retirees

Scott Shannon: Teacher – Bridges High School

– 5 years of service to JCSD 509J

Bear Ross: Custodian – Buff Elementary School

– 28 years of service to JCSD 509J

Gloria Gomez: Custodian – Buff Elementary School

– 21 years of service to JCSD 509J

Casey Claus: Teacher – JCMS

– 27 years of service to JCSD 509J

Cherie Brown: EA – Madras Elementary

– 8 years of service to JCSD 509J

Larinda Galloway: EA – JCMS

– 15 years of service to JCSD 509J 

Melinda Boyle: HR Director – SSB

– 24 years of service to JCSD 509J

Lark Earnest: Secretary – Metolius Elementary

– 29 years of service to JCSd 509J

Kay Short: EA – Metolius Elementary

– 10 years of service to JCSD 509J

Dan Gehring: Custodian – Madras Elementary

– 11 years of service to JCSD 509J

More pictures are available at the links below. Click on the links to see or download the pictures from Madras High School’s graduation ceremony.

Graduation Ceremony Pictures

Diploma Portraits

Senior Scholarship Ceremony Pictures

More pictures are available at the links below. Click on the links to see or download the pictures from Bridges High School’s graduation ceremony.

Graduation Ceremony Pictures

Senior Portraits & More Ceremony Pictures

Robing Ceremony Pictures