December 17, 2007  

TOP TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

Today, we’re winding up Education Month for Starkville Rotary Club by recognizing star teachers and students from three more schools. Today’s honorees are from Starkville Academy Elementary, Starkville Academy High, and Millsaps Career and Technology Center.

OUR NEXT MEETING, JANUARY 7

This is our last meeting of 2007. We’ll take the customary break for the holidays. With New Years Day on Tuesday, we’ll be almost a week into 2008 before we resume our regular noon meeting schedule January 7. Don’t get out of the Rotary habit!

We’ll kick off the new calendar year with another outstanding program. Our guest will be Brig. General J. Erik Hearon, Commander of the Mississippi Air National Guard. He is responsible for directing ANG operations and ensuring mission readiness of an air refueling wing, airlift wing, combat readiness training center, air support operations squadron, air control squadron, and a civil engineering squadron. In 2002-2003, he served in southwest Asia as Director of the Regional Air Movement Control Center for Afghanistan and Iraq. 

LAST WEEK AT ROTARY

Attendance: With 39 guests, we enjoyed a full house at last week’s meeting. There were 115 Rotarians (78 active, 36 exempt, and 1 honorary) present, and 56 active, 21 exempt, and 9 honorary members missing.

Invocation and Pledge: Tommy Prentice.

Special Club Guests were school administrators and family members of students being recognized. They included Andrea Temple (East Oktibbeha principal); Timothy Bourne (Henderson principal); Ardian Harri (Adina’s father); Zeb and LaDonna Rice (Zeb Jr’s parents) and Jeanette Tate (Zeb’s aunt); Bob Fuller (Armstrong principal); Lisa Davis (Kieran’s mother); Jiauzhoug Xu and Raipiug Yang (Brian’s parents); Joseph Stone (SHS asst. principal); Everett and Henri Sue Kennard (Cooper’s parents); Juliette Reese (Raven’s mother); Mary Bush (West Oktibbeha principal); and Robert Jordan (Margaret’s husband).

Other Visitors and Guests: Visiting Rotarian was Eddie Longstreet of West Point. Rick Smith was a guest of Larry Mullins. Club guests were our exchange students Maryna Melnik and Negrita Caicedo; Shoshanna Brackett (Starkville Daily News); and David Franz, Cubmaster of Pack 14.

Katrina Report: Tommy Prentice reported that a truckload of toys was to be taken to the Coast Thursday, Dec. 13, to be distributed to 300 children. Trinity United Methodist Church, that’s been coordinating the efforts of volunteers from Starkville and other areas for the past 2 years is shutting down its relief operation. Tommy said that the Trinity operation had hosted more than 6,500 volunteers who had logged more than 750,000 hours of work. They had gutted 700 homes and helped build 640 new homes. “Starkville Rotary Club has been an important part of the relief effort. Last year, we sent some $13,000 worth of toys to 800 kids,” Tommy said.

Rotary Minute: Loren Zimmerman’s Rotary minute summed up progress on the Rotary Classic PRCA Rodeo, scheduled for February 15 and 16. He said four of the five major sponsors, and 16 of the 20 smaller sponsors from last year are already signed up. There will be plenty of jobs for Rotarians to cover those two big evenings so plan to sign up when the committee calls for volunteers.

Other Meeting Notes: President Ned Browning reported that Joe Tom Mosley is having shoulder replacement surgery. He reminded us that several spots remain for Rotarians to ring the Salvation Army Bells at Wal-Mart Tuesday, Dec. 18.

David Franz, Cubmaster for Pack 14, thanked Rotary for its support of the Cub Scouts, delivered a Christmas card, and wished everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

NEW MEMBER TALKS

Two new members were invited to give brief job talks.

Debra Hicks isn’t new to Starkville Rotary Club. She became a member in 1991 and served as club secretary in 1999-2000. She resigned in 2001 when she changed employment. She now is working as a “Federal Contractor Investigator,” doing in-depth background checks for a long list of Federal agencies including all military services. “Every day is a new day,” she admits. We’re pleased to welcome her back as an active member of Rotary.

Jimmy McPherson is a native of Yazoo City and a graduate of MSU in 1995. After working and living in Jackson, he said he and his wife, Jennifer, decided they wanted to come back to Starkville. Jimmy is a mortgage loan officer for Cadence Banking. He and Jennifer have a 3-year-old daughter and are expecting a second child in May.  

EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION

Last week, we honored star teachers and students from five Starkville area schools. All were presented certificates and gold rulers with Rotary’s 4-Way Test inscribed. Omis Avant, presided and introduced the star teachers from each school who in turn presented their star students.

Henderson Intermediate – Star Teacher Kathy Baker loves teaching and is the band director at Henderson.

Adina Harri “is a great French horn player” and has a 4.0 GPA. Her hobbies include swimming, reading, and drawing.

Zeb Rice, Jr., is also a 4.0 student whose favorite subject is math. His hobbies are basketball, singing, and writing and he hopes to be a lawyer.

Armstrong Middle School – Star Teacher Cindy Hogue is responsible for the VIVA arts program. The two 8 th grade students she selected are good scholars, outstanding citizens, and involved in activities.

Kieran Davis said her favorite subject is algebra. She enjoys swimming and basketball and hopes to be a veterinarian.

Bryan Xu’s favorite class is English, he’s on the basketball team, and hopes to someday be a computer programmer.

East Oktibbeha High – Star Teacher Yolanda Harris, has been teaching for 11 years and currently teaches 7 th and 8 th grade math at EOHS. She loves the challenges of teaching young men and women.

Realyn Edwards is on the honor roll and involved in many activities. She likes math, English, and history and said she plans to be the CEO of her own fashion company.

Jahleel Bardwell is also an honor student who enjoys math and history. He thanked Rotary for the award and said it will help motivate him to achieve his ambition to go to college and study mechanical engineering.

West Oktibbeha High – Star Teacher is Margaret Jordan, who teaches family and consumer science. She counts it “a blessing to have a hand in shaping and acknowledging students.”

Paul Thompson III, has racked up a number of honors, including Mr. West Oktibbeha High and Jr. High. He sings in his church youth choir and plays basketball. He wants to major in automotive engineering and someday have his own business.

Tyra Johnson is a sophomore who likes geometry, journalism, and debate. She enjoys reading and poetry and plans to take pre-med and be a doctor.

Andrea Brown is a junior 4.0 student who is in a number of organizations and activities, including 4-H. Her goal is to continue her education in either computer engineering or civil engineering.

Starkville High School – Star Teacher Sue Morgan teaches French (she enjoyed having last year’s RYE student Marie Baran from France, give her a helping hand). The two students she tapped for honors are talented in academics and many other areas and have that “extra spark” that will make them successful.

Cooper Kennard refused to talk about himself, but wanted to focus attention on his teacher. He said Mrs. Morgan deserves recognition for the extra effort she puts forth in the classroom and as advisor to student government. “It’s easy to get awards when you have a teacher like Mrs. Morgan!”

He didn’t tell Rotarians he plans to major in theater – most of us believe he’ll be a politician.

Raven Reese followed Cooper’s lead. “We call her Mom Morgan. She has such a big heart. She can’t get me out of her classroom. French is not easy. She gets it done. She makes everyone feel special.” Raven didn’t reveal her plans for the future, but you can bet she’ll be successful at whatever she chooses to do.

ANOTHER NEW MEMBER PROPOSED

Zach Rowland, Deputy Director for the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS) proposed for membership by Trey Breckenridge has been approved by the Board for publication and review by the membership. His classification will be Research - Automotive. Zach has already involved himself in Rotary. He supplied both the truck and wagon for Rotary’s Santa Float in this year’s Christmas parade.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!