Leal Sylvester and son

The School of Piano Technology for the Blind has appointmented Leal Sylvester, Class of 1997, as Director of Instruction Intern. Sylvester, who previously worked for the school as both a field technician and instructor, will work hand-in-hand with the school’s current Director of Instruction Don Mitchell to master the school’s unique one-on-one curriculum and teaching methodology.

A native of the US Virgin Islands, Sylvester was previously employed as Lead Technician and Shop Supervisor for Metroplex Pianos in Dallas, Texas. Sylvester returned to Vancouver with his wife, Tyreca, and young son, Leal Jr. (LJ), earlier this month and began his internship at the school on August 29.

The Director of Instruction Internship position is funded through grants from the Gibney Family Foundation, Firstenburg Family Foundation, and Community Foundation for SW Washington.

LSW Architects recently added Spencer Anderson to its architectural design team. In his new position, Anderson will focus on sustainable and passive design, specifically for multi-family housing projects. Spencer brings a unique skill set to the LSW team as a Certified Passive House Consultant and LEED Green Associate.  He holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Colorado at Boulder and is a recent graduate from the Master of Architecture program at the University of Oregon. To learn more about LSW, visit www.lsw-architects.com.

The Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ second annual Veteran Benefit Expo will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, bringing together close to 100 federal, state and local providers of programs and services that benefit veterans and their families. This free event is the largest veteran benefit expo of its kind in the state of Oregon and is being hosted in Portland for the first time.

September is National Preparedness Month which means that public safety agencies are busy working on a number of events to ensure that their communities are educated, informed and ready to face any type of crisis situation. This year’s national theme is “Don’t Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today.” CRESA will help the community take action with its online social media game, 30 Days, 30 Ways Preparedness Challenge.

Players are given a daily challenge at 7 a.m. each morning. Players may submit replies to each of the tasks involved throughout the month to Facebook, Twitter, commenting on the 30 Days Blog or by email. Participants can choose to play as many days as they like, and may also catch up and complete past tasks if they miss a day. All tasks will be short and will not require a significant amount of time to complete.

Thanks to generous sponsors, winners will be selected and rewarded with gift cards to Amazon in October. Submissions will be reviewed for their creativity, relativity to the task and its evident popularity online. This game sparks great conversations and is a wonderful platform for neighborhoods, scouts, schools and workplaces.