In 2023, our reporters and partner organizations told stories of people who inspired us in 2023, serving their communities, helping others, innovating scientific and business achievements, and generally making Oregon a better place. Many of these stories were part of The Oregonian/OregonLive’s “Summer Focus” project to highlight people and organizations that might otherwise go unnoticed. And several of these stories come from organizations that share content with our readers through our partnerships with Underscore News and Associated Press StoryShare. All these stories appeared at hereisoregon.com, where we share the good about the people, places and experiences of Oregon.

Below, you’ll find 25 stories of people who inspired us throughout 2023 from across Oregon.

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Maurice Cowley

Maurice Cowley and his McDaniel High School students are piloting an Advanced Placement African American studies course, the sole high school in Oregon to do so and one of only 60 such schools across the country. It is the first new offering from the College Board in nearly a decade. If all goes as planned, it will expand to hundreds more high schools next year and to every school that wants to offer it by the 2024-2025 school year. The Oregonian/OregonLive education reporter Julia Silverman reported on Cowley’s work in January.

Stan Hinatsu

If you’ve ever hiked a mountain, gazed at a waterfall, or strolled through a wildflower-strewn meadow in the Columbia Gorge, you’ve no doubt seen some of Stan Hinatsu’s handiwork. In his 31 years working for the U.S. Forest Service at the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, he oversaw the acquisition of new public lands and the creation of trails. He saw recreation areas through fires, floods and a global pandemic. And through it all he managed tricky relationships with local, state and federal agencies, as well as locals in the gorge. Jamie Hale introduced our readers to the forester’s quiet legacy as he stepped into retirement.

Sydelle Harrison

Named after the ridge in the foothills of the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon that honors Walla Walla Chief Jim Kanine, the Oregon clothing brand Kanaine blends western influences from Sydelle Harrison’s childhood with modern streetwear designs.

“It’s not just clothes,’” Harrison said. “It’s not just bags. These are a piece of me and people need to know my story. They need to know where I came from.”

Writing for Underscore News, Jarrette Werk explains how this mom used Pendleton blankets and a sewing machine to support her family as well as her grad work.

Mars Sail

At the end of January, Mars Sails, the before-and-after-care program coordinator at Chief Joseph Elementary School in North Portland, told her students that she’d be gone for the next month.

Taking her place: A parade of key figures from Black history past and present, in honor of Black History Month. There was Whitney Houston, Michelle Obama, Angela Davis, Misty Copeland and many more.

Don’t tell the kindergartener who solemnly asked Sails for an autograph the day she came to school dressed as astronaut Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to travel to space, but it was Sails all along behind the costumes, Julia Silverman explained.

Kari Morgan

With a stirring sign language rendition of William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus,” Bend 16-year-old Kari Morgan won the Poetry Out Loud state contest in Salem in March, beating nine other regional finalists.

“‘Invictus’ means a lot to me,” the junior at Oregon School for the Deaf said over email after the win. “It means that no one has control over my actions…that no one can control what I do.”

This was the second consecutive year a student from Oregon School for the Deaf won the state contest, Lizzy Acker wrote.

Gavin Turley

Gavin Turley was the highest-ranked prospect to arrive at Oregon State in the history of the storied baseball program — ahead of greats like Adley Rutschman, Jacoby Ellsbury, Nick Madrigal and Trevor Larnach, Joe Freeman wrote in March, when early indications suggested Turley would more than live up to the hype. But it’s what Turley does outside the chalk at Goss Stadium that sets him apart from most college athletes. The 19-year-old flies planes. He taught himself to play the piano, even though he can’t read music. He solves Rubik’s Cubes behind his back, thanks to an algorithm he wrote when he was 12. And he once dismantled the engine of his SUV, just so he could put it back together. Read Freeman’s profile and catch up on the season’s highlights here.

Jenny Mowe

Sweet Wife Baking in downtown Baker City has always been about subverting expectations for owner Jenny Mowe, a 6-foot-5-inch former basketball star who played in the WNBA.

“It’s the polar opposite of what you would expect,” Mowe said. “This tall, muscular aggressive basketball player, and now I’m literally getting excited about sprinkles.”

Anyone who visits Sweet Wife will be excited by what Mowe does with sprinkles, too, Samantha Swindler wrote in March.

Jeanne Shioshi

Jeanne Shioshi, who was born and raised in Redmond and lives in Southeast Portland, celebrated her 100th birthday last spring. Covering the celebration, Beth Nakamura looked back on Shioshi’s life — her three years of incarceration during World War II along with 200,000 other people of Japanese ancestry, the grocery she ran with her husband in Portland, and her three swims a week at a nearby gym.

As for advice, Shioshi shared what her mother taught her: “My mother was always an optimist,” she said. “‘Look forward, don’t look back,’ she’d tell me. ‘Think of the good things that happen and keep going.’”

Ronnie Gajownik

Ronnie Gajownik says she used to get nervous for this sort of thing, but from the moment the new Hillsboro Hops manager arrived for media day in April at Ron Tonkin Field, she couldn’t have seemed more at ease, Tyson Alger wrote for The Oregonian/OregonLive.

“Smells like hot dogs,” she said walking into the box suite for her media conference. One would be hard-pressed to realize history was also in the air, but no woman had ever fielded questions in this position in the Northwest League. Nor at high-level Single-A for that matter. Gajownik, 29, is just the second woman to manage a professional club in baseball history.

Henry Strobel Jr.

Working in a tiny violin shop in the Willamette Valley, Henry Strobel Jr. keeps his late father’s legacy alive. “He fixes instruments that really should have been recycled and repairs them so they can stay in the service of children,” said Randall Gregory, who has taught orchestra classes for elementary school students since 1999. Modern violin makers likely learned the basics of their craft from Strobel’s father, who created nine illustrated manuals, starting with 1989′s “Useful Measurements for Violin Makers: A Reference for Shop Use.” Tom Henderson tells the story.

Alexander Plekhanov

The full title of Beaverton student Alexander Plekhanov’s Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair prize winning invention is a mouthful: Skew-Axis Cylinder Lens Optical System.

A student enrolled both at the Beaverton Academy of Science and Engineering and Portland Community College, Plekhanov invented and created the device with the help of a 3-D printer in his garage-turned-laboratory. It is intended to help optometrists better pinpoint the lenses needed to correct astigmatism, reporter Julia Silverman explained.

The invention earned Plekhanov a trip to Sweden in December to attend the Nobel Prize ceremonies and participate in the International Youth Science Seminar in Stockholm. He placed first in the “physics and astronomy” category of the fair and received a $5,000 prize.

Luke Laurenson

Luke Hogan Laurenson of Ashland has acted on school stages and for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Diagnosed as a baby with dystonic quadriplegia cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that makes it difficult to walk or talk, he gives heartfelt, honest presentations about his life at Rotary Club meetings and community gatherings. In June, Laurenson appeared before a large, cheering crowd as a valedictorian of Ashland High School’s Class of 2023. He delivered his prepared speech with a handsfree pointer that activates a device that recites his words out loud, Janet Eastman explained in June.

He ended by asking everyone: “I hope if you take anything away from my story, it is that when you see a differently abled person that you will take time to be kind to them and remember they are likely capable of much more than you can imagine.”

Watch his speech here:

Karelly Ramirez-Wade

Karelly Ramirez-Wade, who grew up in Mexico, graduated last summer from Portland State University with a double major in chemistry and physics. In her time at the university, Ramirez mentored young STEM students and worked to make science more accessible for women, people of color and neurodivergent students.

“Science is for everyone,” Ramirez told Sami Edge. “The thought of gatekeeping that is just not OK.”

Poison Waters

Much has changed for Poison Waters, who when not in drag is known as Kevin Cook. Poison Waters has emerged as the new leader of the Portland drag community and unofficial ambassador for the city, a role that Darcelle represented for over 50 years. Poison Waters has been at the center of honoring the late performer while ushering in a new era at Darcelle XV Showplace.

After Darcelle’s death in March, Poison Waters served as emcee for the memorial celebration in April at downtown’s Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. In June, Poison Waters represented Darcelle at a ceremony at New York’s Stonewall Inn, where she was made the first Oregonian named to National LGBTQ Wall of Honor. During the Portland Rose Festival, Poison Waters continued Darcelle’s legacy, serving as the Grand Marshal of the Starlight Parade, a massive honor for a Black drag queen, Poison Waters told reporter Chiara Profenna over the summer.

Troy Tate

Outside the Sunshine Center in North Portland’s Overlook neighborhood, the sounds of children playing, laughing and singing greet visitors. Inside the preschool and child care center, you’ll find founder Troy Tate. A Black male teacher, Tate is a rarity in Oregon early childhood education, where the vast majority of professionals are white women.

As families across Oregon prepared to send their children back to school in August, Tate said he was aware he offers something unique, Austin De Dios wrote. “It’s not better or worse, just different,” Tate said. “Most students aren’t going to have a Black male teacher this early in their academic career – some not at all.”

Outside of the school and day care he opened in 2010, Tate is a pastor at Christ Memorial Community Church, a board member for the historical organization Oregon Black Pioneers and a father of two young children.

Albert Escobar

This year saw longtime former employee Albert and Elena Escobar take over Milo’s City Cafe on Northeast Broadway in Portland’s Irvington neighborhood.

“I believe anything is possible in life,” Albert Escobar said. “I started as a dishwasher, and now I own the place. Dreams really do come true.”

In this August story, Albert tells Michael Russell how he came from Peru to Portland and got started in the restaurant business.

Peggy Konzack

Peggy Konzack is a swim teacher at the YMCA of Douglas County in Roseburg, focusing on children from 6 months to 3 years old. During the three days a week she doesn’t teach, she still swims at least 10 laps per day in the pool.

It’s quite impressive, especially when you hear Konzack celebrated her 102nd birthday over the summer.

She’s been teaching in the same YMCA since 1968 — a total of 54 years — and has taught entire generations of families how to swim, teaching the grandchildren of people she had taught decades past. Will Geshcke told her story for The News-Review.

Kunu Bearchum

Born in Eugene, Oregon, and raised in New Mexico, Kunu Bearchum, Ho-Chunk and Northern Cheyenne, first began to make music in high school. After graduating in 2007, he moved back to Oregon with his hip-hop crew, Che Finch aka WYZAKER WORLDWIDE and his brother Nahko Bearchum aka Mista Chief.

“Growing up, hip-hop music was always part of my day to day life,” Bearchum said in this story by Nika Bartoo-Smith for ICT + Underscore News. “The way I relate to hip-hop is to give voice to the voiceless.”

Bearchum has found a through line between his work and the work of all of his Native hip-hop role models — education for tribal youth.

Mark and Brad Wulf

At 81, Mark Wulf had never taken a weekend hike, but the retired Salem insurance salesman had crossed the 500-mile Camino de Santiago route from France to northwestern Spain six times. He went solo on half of his annual journeys, but he never felt alone.

This year, his son Brad Wulf, a busy Portland real estate broker, came along. The 52-year-old decided to join his dad walking the Camino.

Speaking with reporter Janet Eastman, Brad turned to his dad, getting emotional, and quoted what his dad learned years ago: “On the Camino, all you have is time — 12 to 15 hours today, tomorrow and the next day — to get closer.”

Dr. David Huang

It’s not everyone who can say they’ve prevented an untold number of people from going blind and saved the U.S. Treasury billions of dollars annually to boot, Jeff Manning wrote in September. Dr. David Huang, a medical researcher at Oregon Health & Science University’s Casey Eye Institute, is one of them. He and two partners in the early 1990s invented what has become known as “optical coherence tomography,” a type of imaging technology that Huang described as “ultrasound for the eye.”

The technology can detect early signs of problems in the eye, such as those caused by glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. If caught early, doctors can save the sight of patients. Huang and his two partners in the effort – James Fujimoto and Eric Swanson – received this year’s prestigious Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for developing the groundbreaking technology.

Theola Wong

Theola Wong sat at the front of a playroom on a Saturday morning with her son, Hank. She read a picture book to children and parents, saying one line in Cantonese and then translating in English. Her 3-year-old son put up the corresponding Chinese numbers on a small board as she read, Austin De Dios wrote in September.

The duo have been leading similar sessions since January, when Wong formed Portland Cantonese Play and Learn. The group started as a way for her to share her language and culture with her son, and make up for a lack of early childhood resources for Cantonese speakers in the Portland area, she said.

“It’s been incredibly frustrating that there are almost no resources for Cantonese speaking families with children that are not in grade school,” Wong said. “So I started a mom’s playgroup, but it really snowballed. Now we have over 50 families involved.”

Ted Smith

When he’s doing his “Soulful Strut” radio show (4-6 p.m. Fridays), Ted Smith is at the KMHD studio inside the Oregon Public Broadcasting headquarters.

When he’s not behind the microphone, Smith works as a Visitor Services Lead at the Portland Art Museum. What with his two jobs, and other commitments — including an appearance at the 2023 edition of Paseo, the summertime downtown Portland event presented by the Portland Parks Foundation — Smith has been able to see enough of Portland to form some opinions about life in the Rose City.

“I’m optimistic,” says Smith, speaking to Kristi Turnquist for this September story. “One of the things I like about Portland is that people here are good. Every day, people do good things.”

Edward Louie

Research engineer Edward Louie spends workdays in a lab studying ways for buildings and vehicles to be more energy efficient, and for real world experiments, he tests ideas in his 130-year-old Portland house, Janet Eastman wrote in October. Over time, by converting from gas to electricity, and by taking advantage of cash incentives to install energy-wise products, he has improved his home’s comfort and air quality while eliminating gas consumption and saving money.

Louie works at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and volunteers to promote the benefits of high performing, healthy homes through Passive House Northwest, Solar Oregon and the Building Performance Association. In his spare time, he’s constructing a solar-powered tiny house on wheels. Janet Eastman told his story in October.

Ahlam Osman

For Ahlam Osman, a Somali American who grew up steeped in Islam, a religion that disapproves of waste and excess, visiting the 12,000-acre Columbia Ridge Landfill as a high school senior three years ago proved life-changing. The experience drove Osman, now 22 and in her final year at Portland State University, to examine her personal impact on the environment and to explore how her religion aligns with the call for climate action.

That journey, in turn, led her to become an organizer who encourages young African and Muslim people to engage with nature and advocate for their communities, which face many challenges brought by climate change. Gosia Wozniacka told Osman’s story in October.

Nasirullah Safi

After the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, a new wave of Afghan refugees began arriving in the United States. Those who land in Oregon are often greeted at their gate by Nasirullah Safi, offering a smile and a greeting in their native language. He’ll lead them down to baggage claim to collect their belongings and then load them into his minivan and drive from Portland International Airport to Salem to take them to either their new home or a hotel, where they’ll stay temporarily while their housing is finalized. He leaves them a small envelope of money and helps them sign a few forms to start the resettlement process.

“I notice with so many newcomers and families that I meet at the airport, as soon as they get off the plane, they have no clue where they are,” Safi said. “They know very little about the U.S. and the people here and they just want to express themselves, talk to you, to tell you how they’re feeling.”

Safi vividly remembers the vulnerability of landing in the U.S. for the first time, and the comfort of being greeted by a friendly face. Deborah Bloom explained how Safi, a caseworker for Salem for Refugees and a former interpreter on the frontlines in the U.S. war in Afghanistan, came to the United States and his ongoing efforts to clear the way for his family to join him.