Rainshadow Charter School’s Emily Orellana, 17, has made it twice in two years to the Poetry Out Loud national competition in Washington D.C. Last year, she represented Nevada and this year, she represented Nevada at the top with nine other states.

“It is really difficult,” Orellana said. “Everyone is just as good as you are.”

Her teacher and mentor Jeremy Pantoja, better known as Pan, inspired her to write poetry when he invited her to participate in the local open mic poetry group called Spoken Views.

“Spoken Views is a collective,” Orellana said. “Everyone says I am the poet that makes people cry.”

“Emily is incredible,” Pantoja said. “One of the best students I have ever had.”

Poetry has become an emotional outlet for Orellana.

“I never really had an outlet to get that stuff outside of me,” Orellana. “Everything difficult that I have to deal with comes out in my poetry.”

A common misconception of charter schools is that they attract “at risk” students and are more likely to have less funding. The faculty say Rainshadow Community Charter High School in Reno defies all charter school stereotypes. Not only does Rainshadow attract a variety of talented students, but is also a self-sustaining high school that brings diversity through its connection to the community.

Dean of Academics Toby Wiedenmayer said she loves working at Rainshadow.

“What you find when you come into our school is that we are a pretty cohesive net,” Wiedenmayer said. “You have to be, because we do work with tough kids at times but they have a lot to give as well. A lot of good ideas and talent.”

When the principal of Rainshadow, Steve West, first started working at the school’s location on Fourth street, he was approached by prostitutes. The school was also located near a drug hangout.

“I would often find pipes in the yard from when they smoked crack,” West said.

When Rainshadow moved to its new building on Holcomb Avenue, West thought the new location was one of the best things that ever happened to Rainshadow. Not only was the new location safer, but the building also had a complete kitchen and restaurant space.

Rainshadow has started a culinary program granting students the opportunity to try out a potential career option while sustaining the school’s budget. The program feeds the students also.

With the state budget cuts, Rainshadow found a unique way to bring profit to the school. They  opened a coffee shop called Rainshadow Cafe that is open to the public. They serve Italian coffee and fresh baked goods. A professional chef from the Eldorado comes in every week to help the students with baking.  They are also going to open a pizzeria that will be open to the public in June.

“We have recognized that we need to do everything we can to become self-sufficient,” Wiedenmayer said.

West thinks the culinary program has provided healthy food for the students.

“Many of our students didn’t eat well before,” West said. “Having a kitchen has fed our students in a way that they needed.”

When Rainshadow moved to its new building, the faculty and students started  a collaboration with the Holland Project. The Holland Project is an all-ages music and art venue. They use Rainshadow’s space on the weekends for events.

Joe Ferguson is a science teacher at Rainshadow and the co-founder of the Holland Project. His students can volunteer and plan events for the Holland Project for an elective credit. Joe Ferguson founded the Holland Project five years ago.

“Being a teen in Reno, there wasn’t a lot to do because it is a 21 and up town”, Ferguson said. “No one really paid attention to what kids were doing.”

He created The Holland Project in hopes that it would be a place where students can be recognized and share their talents with other peers.

“The project gives kids something to do on weekends,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson is going to take his class on a trip to San Francisco in a couple of weeks to observe all-ages venues in a big city.

“The Holland Project is an alcohol and drug-free environment,” West said. “Their venues create a safe and fun place for the students to get involved with outside of school.”

Rainshadow puts on an art exhibit every semester that is open to the community. The next art exhibit on May 27 will have Salvador Dali originals. A local art investor will be auctioning these pieces with the student’s work and she is showing the students how to market their artwork as well. The investor has a link to Rainshadow’s artwork on her international Web site.

“She has definitely taken us under her wing,” Wiedenmayer said. “If someone is looking for a Dali piece, they could easily come across our little school and go, oh look!”

Rainshadow received a grant from Nevada Energy to use solar panels as a main energy source. Not only do the solar panels cut back Rainshadow’s energy bill but the solar panels are also environmentally friendly.

“We are one of the first schools in Washoe County to have solar power energy,” Wiedenmayer said. “It will save the school $7,500 a year.”

The science and math classes at Rainshadow incorporated the solar panels into one of their big projects.

“The solar panel projects are an example of how Rainshadow is project based,” West said.

With 70 percent of students qualified for free and reduced lunch, Wiedenmayer believes Rainshadow has created a better environment for students.

“Every student in Nevada is at ‘at risk’ because of what is happening with our educational systems,” Wiedenmayer said.

Many students who come to Rainshadow were bored with the traditional curriculum that their local public high schools taught. Rainshadow is mostly project based and the students don’t even use textbooks. Rainshadow also has interdisciplinary classes where different subject are incorporated together like Victoria Velazquez’s math and art class.

“We try to do different things to get our students engaged,” Wiedenmayer said.

The faculty at Rainshadow is one of the main reasons the school has had so much success.

“You can never have a program that is better than the staff,” West said. “Having quality staff that are dedicated to what they do and are creative and motivated to work with this population is part of the secret of the success we’ve had.”

Pantoja is a multi-talented drama teacher at Rainshadow Community Charter School. He co-wrote and directed the hip hopera called 6:01 AM: A Working Class Opera. He teaches art at Sierra Nevada College and has a non-judgmental studio art gallery called Wonder Wall.

“You can bring in anything you have made and put it on the wall,” Pantoja said. “I won’t judge you.”

He is also a poet for Spoken Views and a singer in a band.

“I think that our teachers are very innovative,” Wiedenmayer.

Ferguson’s science class is growing an organic garden at Libby Booth Elementary School. They hope to start growing their garden on the roof of the school next to the solar panels.

“We eventually want to start growing the produce for our culinary program,” Ferguson said.

Before attending Rainshadow, Orellana went to North Valleys high school. She got into trouble at North Valleys because she was unsatisfied by the traditional setting.

“Those schools don’t foster a person’s creativity,” Orellana said. “Rainshadow definitely does.”

For Orellana, the teachers are what distinguishes Rainshadow from other public schools.

“At North Valleys, all teachers cared about is whether you passed a test,” Orellana said. “ Here at Rainshadow, I have most of my teachers’ cell phone numbers in my phone. They care about me and help me unrelated to school.”

Wiedenmayer agrees that the faculty has changed the dynamic of the school.

“We have a community here that is starting to expand beyond our walls,” Wiedenmayer said. “I think of it as sort of a movement because we are linked with all these people who are progressive thinkers and who want to see something better for our kids.”

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