Raising funds for a solid memory

An alumni group that wants past mascots memorialized at the new school in Coulee Dam is working toward a new sculpture and collecting money to have it made.

The Grand Coulee Alumni Association has opened an account at North Cascades Bank in Grand Coulee to collect funds for such a statue commemorating the three school districts of the past that comprise the current system. The association is encouraging participation from Coulee Dam, Grand Coulee, and Nespelem alumni.

Local artist Keith Powell is working on a design that includes reference to the three school districts in a large statue that will stand on the grounds of Lake Roosevelt Schools.

The cost of the project will totally be funded by donations from all who attended these schools and wish to be involved in what supporters say will be the last chance to make a lasting memory of the Coulee Dam, Grand Coulee, and Nespelem school districts when their mascots were respectively, The Beavers, The Tigers and The Savages.

The Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam districts merged in the early 1970s. The Nespelem School District has sent its high schoolers to Coulee Dam for decades.

All donations can be made at North Cascades Bank into the Grand Coulee Alumni account for the historical monument.

The Grand Coulee All-School Reunion will be held August 12-13 at North Dam Park, and anyone whoever attended a school in the Grand Coulee District is invited to attend.