Dexter, Missouri - The annual CTA Retirement Tea was held on Thursday, April 28th with seven teachers retiring from Dexter Public Schools. In all, these seven teachers will end their teaching career with 193 years of service. Teachers honored were Sherry Chance, June Lawrence, Ramona Lemons, Shannon Putnam, John Stephens, Shari Stickles, and Debra Thrower. (Each teacher will have their own article and a description of their years of service in education).
Ramona Lemons began her teaching career in 1984 at Nell Holcomb as an aide/reading teacher. After a year of teaching she accepted the position as the Business Teacher at the Puxico School District where she taught for eight years when she made the decision to be a stay-at-home mother.
During the next six years, she was the Drug Grant Coordinator, a Kindergarten Music Teacher, and substitute teacher for Dexter Public Schools. in 1999, she was hired as the Business Teacher at Dexter High School. In all, Mrs. Lemons has contributed 32 career years to service education.
"The Dexter Public Schools commend them for their dedication and service to educating all the students they have come in contact with over the many years," commented Rick Williams, Dexter School Board President. "We appreciate their service."
Dexter, Missouri - The annual CTA Retirement Tea was held on Thursday, April 28th with seven teachers retiring from Dexter Public Schools. In all, these seven teachers will end their teaching career with 193 years of service. Teachers honored were Sherry Chance, June Lawrence, Ramona Lemons, Shannon Putnam, John Stephens, Shari Stickles, and Debra Thrower. (Each teacher will have their own article and a description of their years of service in education.)
In 1986, June Lawrence was hired to teach K-12th grade Art at Oran School District where she taught for 12 years.
June then accepted the K-8th grade Art position in her hometown of Bloomfield, Missouri in 1994 where she taught for one year before leaving in 1995 to come to the Dexter Public Schools. She has been the Elementary Art Instructor for the past 21 years. She is retiring with 30 career years as an Art educator.
"The Dexter Public Schools commend them for their dedication and service to educating all the students they have come in contact with over the many years," commented Rick Williams, Dexter School Board President. "We appreciate their service."
Dexter, Missouri - The annual CTA Retirement Tea was held on Thursday, April 28th with seven teachers retiring from Dexter Public Schools. In all, these seven teachers will end their teaching career with 193 years of service. Teachers honored were Sherry Chance, June Lawrence, Ramona Lemons, Shannon Putnam, John Stephens, Shari Stickles, and Debra Thrower. (Each teacher will have their own article and a description of their years of service in education.)
Sherry Chance began teaching with the Dexter Public Schools in January of 1998. Se was hired to teach 6th and 7th grade reading at T.S. Hill Middle School. The following year, she had the privilege of creating curriculum for an elective, 8th Grade Literature.
After six years of teaching Reading, in 2005 she moved to the English Department to teach 8th grade English.
Sherry is ending her teaching career teaching 7th grade Social Studies. All of her 18 1/2 years of teaching has been in the classroom at T.S. Hill Middle School.
"The Dexter Public Schools commend them for their dedication and service to educating all the students they have come in contact with over the many years," commented Rick Williams, Dexter School Board President. "We appreciate their service."
Dexter, Missouri - The Dexter Elks Lodge held their annual Students of the Year Banquet on April 19, 2016. Roger Tripplett, Exalted Rule welcomed the 14 students who had already been honored as a Student of the Month at their respective high schools. Larry White introduced each student and thanked everyone for attending. This was his 11th year of hosting the Students of the Year banquet.
Representing Bell City are Rebecca Heuring and Peyton Maddox, from Bloomfield are Adrianna Gensler and Tyler Battles, from Dexter are Erin Lauters and Garrett Kyle, from Bernie are Cybil Voss and Brock Beacham, from Richland are Makala Pinkley and Matthew Miller, from Puxico are McKenna Hawthorne and Nathan Dare, and representing Advance are Jennifer Beal and Creighton Miles.
Bill Hampton, Director of Three River College Center at Dexter, was the guest speaker. "You are the best of the best," Hampton said of the students in the audience. "The Elks are extremely active in the community with Youth Basketball Shootout, Drug Awareness, Three Rivers Patrons of the Arts, Goodwill Games, and Youth Wrestling. When you finish college remember to give back to your community by joining an organization such as the Elks."
"If it is to be it is up to me!" Larry White said those are the top ten words to live by. "When you leave the nest, get involved in the community, join a civic organization, become a youth coach or run for city council, just get involved in your community."
Students who earned top honors as Elks Students of the Year are Jennifer Beal and Tyler Battles.
Beal is the daughter of Jesse and Jonna Beal. She will attend School of the Ozarks in the fall and major in Music Education.
Battles is the son of Kristie Battles and Michael Battles. He is yet undecided as to where he will attend college, but he plans to major in Biology.
Shown in the photo are Elks Student Awards coordinator, Larry White, with Students of the Year Jennifer Beal from Advance and Tyler Battles from Bloomfield. Along with their plaques, the two each received a $200 check for their achievements.
Dexter, Missouri - The Dexter Elks Lodge held their annual Students of the Year Banquet at the Elks Lodge on April 19, 2016.
Two students from each school district within Stoddard County were recognized throughout the year as Dexter Elks Lodge Students of the Month.
Each April, all of the students are recognized at the annual banquet to honor their achievements and to name the Students of the Year.
The Dexter Elks have sponsored this program for 40 years and Larry and Carol White have headed the program for the past 11 years.
Students, their parents, and their school counselor were treated to a delicious meal catered by the Elks. Each student was invited to the stage to introduce themselves and who attended the banquet with them.
Shown in the photo are front row seated from left to right: Rebecca Heuring, of bell City, Adrianna Gensler of Bloomfield, Erin Lauters and Garrett Kyle from Dexter, and Cybil Voss of Bernie. Standing are from left to right Brock Beacham of Bernie, Skie Pinkley and Parker Miller from Richland, Nathan Dare of Puxico, and Jennifer Beal of Advance. Not present for the photo were Tyler Battles from Bloomfield (He was at a baseball game and came later to the banquet), McKenna Hawthorne from Puxico, and Creighton Miles of Advance.
