Janine Arano Castro (1986)

Alumnus of the Year 2019

Janine Arano Castro is a 1986 OHS graduate.  She was born in Renton, Washington.  Her family then moved to California where she attended all Orland schools.  Janine is a CSF lifetime member.

After graduation, she attended Chico State from 1987-1993 where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Geology and Geography, and a Master of Geosciences degree.

Janine then attended Oregon State University from 1993-1997 where she graduated with a PhD in Geosciences, and served on the OSU Geosciences board.  In addition, Janine recently became an affiliate professor at University of Victoria in Wellington, New Zealand.

Janine was married in 2018 to Dr. Colin Thorne, Chair of Physical Geography at University of Nottingham in England.  She has one son, Keston Keuchel, a senior at Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA. 

Janine also volunteers for the “River Restoration Northwest” and “Science Talk” organizations.  Both promote improving science communication.  Her hobbies are travel, home improvement, and New York Times crossword puzzles.

More about Janine (from her LinkedIn profile):

Janine Castro is the Project Leader for the Columbia River Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office (CRFWCO) in Vancouver, Washington. It is the mission of the CRFWCO to assist in determining the status of imperiled natural fish stocks, to evaluate management measures for recovery and assist in the recovery of these stocks, and to prevent future ESA listings. As the Project Leader, Janine provides leadership to a highly diverse technical staff that address a wide variety of fisheries issues, including: (1) fish passage and aquatic habitat restoration, (2) bull trout recovery and lamprey conservation, (3) marking and tagging of nearly 40 million hatchery fish annually to support tribal, recreational, and commercial mark-selective fisheries, (4) mark-recapture studies of wild fish to determine occupancy, distribution, abundance, trends, and population growth rates, and (5) providing analytical support to project design, evaluation, and information management.

Janine provides national and international training on stream restoration, river science, and public speaking for scientists. She has worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service for 20 years and spent the preceding 10 years working for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Janine is co-founder of Science Talk, one of the five founding members of River Restoration Northwest, a member of the Expert Regional Technical Group for the Columbia Estuary Ecosystem Restoration Program, an Affiliate Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, adjunct faculty at Portland State University, and the Technical Director for the PSU River Restoration Professional Certificate Program.

Specialties: Aquatic Habitat Restoration, Geomorphology, Science Communication

Stephen T. Callan (1966)

Alumnus of the Year 2018

After graduating from OHS, Steve attended CSU-Chico, and attended graduate school at CSU-Sacramento.  Steve has played competitive softball throughout the United States since his college days.  In 2004, he was inducted into the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame.  Steve and his wife, Kathy, a retired science teacher, live in Palo Cedro, California.

Steve began his 30 year career in wildlife protection in 1974 when he was hired by the California Department of Fish and Game as a warden near the Colorado River. After several years in Southern California, he ultimately spent the remainder of his thirty-year enforcement career in Shasta County.  Steve has earned numerous awards for his work in wildlife protection.

Dedicated to conserving California’s natural resources, Steve has worked diligently throughout his adult life on conservation issues: lobbying for protective wildlife corridors in Sacramento County’s general plan; organizing and leading a successful effort to ban the sale of native reptiles; establishing Lake Mathews, in Riverside County, as an ecological reserve for thousands of waterfowl and Southern California’s largest population of wintering bald eagles; and working with Redding and Shasta County planners to establish development-free setbacks along the Sacramento River and its tributaries.

Now retired, Steve is the award-winning author of The Game Warden’s Son, named the “Best Outdoor Book of 2016” by the Outdoor Writers Association of California. His debut book, Badges, Bears, and Eagles—The True-Life Adventures of a California Fish and Game Warden, was a 2013 “Book of the Year” award finalist (ForeWord Reviews). Steve is the recipient of the 2014, 2015, and 2016 “Best Outdoor Magazine Column” awards from the Outdoor Writers Association of California.

Steve and Kathy are passionate about nature, they are avid kayakers, bird-watchers, nature photographers, and scuba divers. Steve uses photographs he’s taken while bird-watching and scuba diving to inspire his wildlife art, which he’s been enthusiastic about since first being encouraged by Orland High School instructor Winston Megorden back in the 1960s.   

Having recently completed a manuscript for his third book and signed a contract with his publisher, Steve continues to weave a conservation message throughout everything he writes.

John D. Nesbitt (1966)

Alumnus of the Year 2018

After graduating from OHS, John attended Chico State College; he went from there to UCLA, where he received his B.A. in 1971.  After that he went to UC Davis, where he earned an M.A. in 1974 and a Ph.D. in 1980.  For these degrees, all in English, he studied British and American literature, eventually specializing in literature of the American West and writing his doctoral dissertation on the classic western novel.  During that time he had part-time and limited-term teaching positions at Solano College, Yuba College, Sacramento State University, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Davis.

John lives in the plains country of eastern Wyoming with his wife, Rocio, and their son, Dimitri. He has been a full-time faculty member at Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington, Wyoming since 1981, teaching courses in basic writing, composition, introduction to literature, the short story, Western American literature, creative writing, all on a regular basis. During his university years he studied Spanish and French, and in 1988 he took a semester’s leave to study Spanish at the University of Wyoming. Since then he has taught Spanish, as well. In 1994 he went to Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico, where he earned a diploma in Spanish philology from the Instituto de Filologia. In that same year, he won an award for teaching excellence at Eastern Wyoming College.

From 1978 onward, he has had a wide variety of his own work published. He has also written textbooks for basic writing and college composition. 

John has won many awards for his work, including two awards from the Wyoming State Historical Society (for fiction), two awards from Wyoming Writers for encouragement of other writers and service to the organization, two Wyoming Arts Council literary fellowships (one for fiction, one for non-fiction), a Will Rogers Medallion Award for Dark Prairie (a frontier mystery) and another for Thorns on the Rose (a poetry collection), a Western Writers of America Spur finalist award for his novel Raven Springs, and the Spur award itself for his short story “At the End of the Orchard” and for his novels Trouble at the Redstone and Stranger in Thunder Basin.  

His most recent work consists of Field Work, a retro-noir fiction collection; Thorns on the Rose, western poetry; and Justice at Redwillow, a frontier mystery.

Erick Nielsen (1965)

Alumnus of the Year 2017

The Nielsen family settled in the Orland area in 1909.  Erick Nielsen’s grandfather, Carl Gottfried Erickson (“Dot”) was born in America to his Swedish immigrant family in Nebraska, coming from the East Coast in covered wagons.  Erick’s grandfather began developing the existing ranch with a small dairy and poultry operation as well as prune, olive, almond, and orange orchards.  In the 1940s, Erick’s father, Lloyd Nielsen, leased the ranch from his father-in-law and continued to farm it until the mid-1970s.

While at Orland High School Erick played basketball.  He thought about playing for Chico State and ended up playing all four years.  A couple of years ago, he was recognized as one of the top 100 All-Time Basketball Players of Chico State.  While at Chico State, Erick met a young lady by the name of Margie Call.  She must have made a pretty good impression because they were married in July of 1972.

Erick stayed in Orland and worked on the family farm, starting a small agricultural business in 1972 that specialized in pruning and harvesting prunes and nuts.  The business began to grow and Erick and Margie bought the family ranch in 1976 and further expanded the acreage, now farming prunes and olives, and developing innovative harvesting equipment for prunes and pistachios with reliability and efficiency, committing to addressing the many challenges the modern orchard growers face.

Erick Nielsen Enterprises (ENE) also created unique self-propelled mechanical pruners for topping, hedging and skirting for various orchards crops.   ENE also provides experienced and talented personnel who are trained in safety, mechanical operations, and management classes to serve the customer.

This third generation Orland farmer is active in his church and community.  Erick is a committed father.  He and Margie have five children:  Heather (and Don) Reed, Hilary (and Anthony) Porter, Gavin, Garrett (and Leanne), and Ashley (and Nate) Boom and twelve grandchildren.  Erick has a huge heart and treats the many who have worked so long for him as family.  In many ways his work mantra is his family mantra:  “Do it right, Do it well, Make it right for our customers, Enjoy our work, and Provide for our families”.

Erick is an example of the outstanding alumni of Orland High School who exemplify that graduates of OHS can achieve their dreams, no matter what those dreams are.  Thank you Erick!

Reggie Olney (1958)

Alumnus of the Year 2016

Reggie moved to Orland in 1947 and started class as a second grader at Mill Street School.  After graduating from OHS in 1958, Reggie started his own business and started a labor contracting business that would last some forty-three years.  During this time he also worked as a rancher, raising beef cattle.  Feeling the need to serve his community, he joined the Orland Volunteer Fire Department and served for ten years. He was also elected to the Orland Water Users’ Board of Directors and served for eight years, several of those years as the President of the Board.  Reggie also became interested in another service club:  Loyal Order of Moose, a philanthropic organization that contributes approximately $75 million worth of community service annually. Reggie worked hard and it paid off.  He was awarded Moose International Shining Star Award as Top Administrator of Moose International in 1996 and was first runner-up in 1998.  This was in competition with 2,864 Moose Lodges nationwide. In 1997 he was awarded the highest degree in the Order of Moose International: the Pilgrim Degree.  In 2002, Reggie received the Moose International Shining Star for Moose of the Year, out of over one and a half million members. He also served California and Nevada Moose International for over five years and was Top Director for two of those five years. Reggie was also recognized for his local service when he was awarded the True American Hero Award for exemplary community service at the 2000 Glenn County Fair.

Reuben Barclay (1947)

Alumnus of the year 2016

Reuben moved to Orland from Missouri in 1943 as a sophomore. He was awarded the Kiwanis Cup as top vocational student both his sophomore and senior years and Heald’s College Commercial Award his senior year. He served as president of his freshman and junior classes and treasurer of the student body his junior year.  After graduating from OHS, Reuben moved to Chicago to attend Gregg College of Court Reporting. He moved back to Orland and worked for the Glenn County Road Department then moved to Sacramento and Oakland to work on the Southern Pacific Railroad. He was drafted in 1950 and discharged two years later. He returned to Oakland and went to work for Sea-Land Service, a combination ship and truck service that ships large containers. He worked at Sea-Land until he retired in 1990 as Director of Administration. 

Reuben moved back to Orland where he and his wife, Patricia, volunteered for Enloe Hospice.  He developed his hobby in stained glass into a small business and has donated dozens of art works to schools, churches, the Orland Volunteer Fire Department, the high school band, and other fundraisers in the Orland area. He provided the idea for the Arch in Library Park and has raised thousands of dollars in scholarship money for the Orland Alumni Association.  He was awarded Orland’s Citizen of the Year in 2016. 

Reuben remains connected with his class and wrote a 250 page book outlining each classmate and how they spent their first 50 years after graduation.  One special highlight of his life is the time he spent in the U.S. Army and his work with the Atomic Energy Commission, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory with the detonation of the first Hydrogen bomb:  OPERATION GREENHOUSE.

Don Barceloux (1964)

Alumnus of the Year 2015

Don Barceloux graduated Orland High School in 1964 and attended Stanford University from 1964 until 1970.  While at Stanford, Don earned a degree in Biology, General Engineering and Engineering Science.

He then attended Medical School at UCLA where he earned his M.D. and then interned in UCLA’s Center for Health Science, Department of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Barceloux became Board Certified in 1982 and worked at White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles where he initially was an Emergency Department Physician and ultimately was promoted to Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine.

He currently is a Consultant for Medical Toxicology and a recognized expert on the effects of exposure to chemicals and drugs.  He has taught, and continues to teach, as a Professor of Medicine.

Dr. Barceloux has numerous publications, belongs to many professional organizations and still finds the time to volunteer in his community.  He is a member of the local Barceloux-Tibessart Foundation and he and his family spend time in Orland on their farm near Plaza.

Brian Fairlee (1984)

Alumnus of the Year 2015

Brian Fairlee graduated from Orland High School in 1984 and then studied at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.  With more than 25 years of motion picture and entertainment advertising experience, his accolades include advertising and promotional campaigns for some of the world’ most recognized movies, TV shows, and brands.

Brian has also edited trailers and commercials for hundreds of films, television shows and special projects.  He has been heard by millions of people around the world in promoting some of the world’s most recognized movies and beloved brands – from Disney, Barbie and Hot Wheels to Orbitz, Nickelodeon and Universal Studios.

Brian works as an editor for Trailer Park Inc., the world’s leading entertainment marketing agency, and is the President and owner of Pumpkin Patch Productions.  In additional to the foregoing, Kelly Lester (actress, singer, and “mom-preneur”) reports that Brian and his wife, Danielle, “produce their own marvelous podcast, The Brian and Danielle Show”.

Brian is active with his family and his local church, the Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in West Hills, CA.  He also volunteers his time at youth theatre groups and with his two rescue dogs, Toby and Finn.