Dexter, Missouri - T.S. Hill Middle School announced their 2017 4th Quarter Honor Roll students for 7th grade.  Students must maintain a B average to be on the Honor Roll each quarter.

Making the honor roll is not as easy as one might think.  Middle School students who are high achievers acquire and develop excellent study habits and skills, especially in time management.  To manage time efficiently, students use a student calendar or planner.

Successful, lifelong learners set aside a time and a space every day to do their homework. Student who can manage their daily workload have a better chance of attaining academic success.

Below are the following 7th grade Honor Roll students in alphabetical order:

Jacob Adams, Addyson Atherton, Sarah Baker, Sajah Ballard, Annie Banken, Kennedy Bess, Sydney Bess, Lydia Bishop, Natalie Bolin, Baylee Boyer, Makayla Boyt, Kayleigh Bridges, Arianna Brown, Gabrielle Brown, Leneya Callaway, Caitlin Cash, Drake Channell, Kaidence Colove, Maci Comfort, Taylor Condict, Luke Conner, Arielle Coyner, Abigail Dement, Andrew Dodson, Emily Drews, Alex Dugan, Raleigh Evans, Randall Fincher, Hannah Frazier, Kayla Freeman, Alyssa Frizzell, Brett Frizzell, Kayleigh Gibson, Gerbrand Haasbroek-Wirz, Grace Hanner, Matthew Hardin, Gerica Harris, Nicholas Harris, Logan Kayler, Andie Kruse, Tucker Kyle, Lexie Laramore, Shyann Larsen, Rachel Lin, Toni Long, Javier Lugo, Patrick Lutmer, Makenzie Mahy, Jerra Malone, David March, Magi McBride, Diego McCormick, Gabriel McGhee, Miller McLaughlin, Abrianna McPherson, Maddox Miller, Camillia Moore, Andrew Morgan, Danielle Morgan, Avery Neely, Lexis Newell, Emily Northern, Tanay Patel, Carter Pennington, Harrison Pennington, Kenton Pope, Dulcie Pullen, Mackenzie Raley, Braeden Raymond, Camden Riley, Katelyn Riley, Quinn Riley, Kaden Ritter, Julianna Rivera, Kennedy Robertson, Natalie Sells, Kellsie Shelton, Dylan Sitze, Emily Smith, Karsyn Smith, Layken Smith, Amberly Steele, Austin Stieferman, Ryan Strickland, Grace Teffertiller, Kyle Tellman, Abigail Thompson, Allison Thurlkill, Ivy Tucker, Ayden Walters, Brett Warren, Hannah West, Bailey Whitaker, Tori White, and Mia Williams.

Dexter, Missouri - T.S. Hill Middle School announced their 2017 4th Quarter Honor Roll students for 8th grade.  Students must maintain a B average to be on the Honor Roll each quarter.

Making the honor roll is not as easy as one might think.  Middle School students who are high achievers acquire and develop excellent study habits and skills, especially in time management.  To manage time efficiently, students use a student calendar or planner.

Successful, lifelong learners set aside a time and a space every day to do their homework. Student who can manage their daily workload have a better chance of attaining academic success.

Below are the following 8th grade Honor Roll students in alphabetical order:

Jackson Allen, Mckayla Annesser, Sydney Asberry, Abigail Baldwin, Brayden Barnett, Emily Battles, Chelsea Bennett, Shelby Bishop, Ryder Boles, Hannah Bryant, Nathan Bryant, Keiton Buck, Blake Carrillo, Gavin Cartwright, Bailey Chamberlain, Jaycee Chappell, Gage Coleman, Ryan Collier, Bradyn Crockett, Shelby Curran, Sarah Dachs, Austin Daniels, Mikayla Dodson, Carter Dorton, Peyton Driskill, Destiny Durham, Elissa Dvorak, Benjamin Dyle, Andrew Ellinghouse, Colton Evans, Krystal Evans, Sarah Fyke, Abby Goodrich, Evan Grobe, Amber Grove, Ethan Hann, Madelyn Haynes, Alexis Hays, Landon Hoggard, Kaylee Honeycutt, Jebidiah Hubbard, Wesley Huey, Makenzie Hutson, Bryce Ingram, Nevaeh Johnson, Joshua Kaufman, Kyllie Kendrick, Alanie Lacy, Nathaniel Mangum, Audrey Martin, Chloe McRoy, Layne Medler, Hannah Midgett, Sara Midgett, Adison Moore, Shaylin Moore, Kylee Morgan, Molly Murphy, Alexa Noles, Elise Noles, Courtney Northcutt, Ronald Palmer, William Pennington, Ashley Peters, Payton Phelan, Clay Prance, Kyla Propst, Clara Pullam, Tristin Pullum, Ashlee Pyle, Hannah Pyles, Skylar Reeves, Makenna Rodgers, Victoria Ross, Riley Slusher, Damon Stearns, Eston Stearns, Jarred Swindell, Chloe Thurmon, Gracie Tinnin, Justin Viers, Emma Wamble, Kaeli Wells, Mattilyn Williams, Tara Williams, Bronwen Young, and Mekenzie Yount.

Poplar Bluff, Missouri - Three Rivers College filled the Black River Coliseum to celebrate the institution’s newest graduating class on Friday, May 19. Approximately 590 students in Three Rivers’ degree and certificate programs were eligible to walk across the stage during Friday’s ceremony.

Stan Berry, a Three Rivers alumnus, Army veteran, and editor at the Daily American Republic in Poplar Bluff, gave the keynote address to the Class of 2017. In his speech, Berry spoke to the necessity of strength and determination in life, a lesson that he credited to his mother.

“She’d send us trooping off to school with a warm breakfast in our bellies, and then she’d go to the garment factory to spend eight hours doing piecework on a sewing machine,” said Berry. “I don’t know where she got the strength.”

Eric Schalk, Chair of the Three Rivers College Board of Trustees, and Dr. Wesley Payne, President of Three Rivers College, also spoke at the event. The Three Rivers College Choir, directed by Sherry Mitchell, performed an arrangement of “In My Life” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

“Education is the key to better lives for students, for their families, and for the communities from which they come,” said Schalk. “Remember: you are the future, and it looks to be a bright one.”

The college honored several outstanding graduates at the ceremony, and recognized its many first-generation, non-traditional, veteran, and multi-generation graduates. Among the individual graduates spotlighted were:

·      Misty-Love Lopez, a New York City native and first-generation graduate, who has been deeply involved in campus life at Three Rivers, including serving as an Academic Coach in the ACHIEVE program and President of the Student Government Association.
·      Yvone White, a non-traditional student who enrolled at Three Rivers at the age of 72, over 60 years after dropping out of school in eighth grade to help support his family.
·      The Coleman and Heaton families, a set of multi-generation graduates. Shelby Coleman; her husband, Cody; her brothers, Casey Heaton and Michael Heaton; and her sister-in-law, Rhonda Heaton, all graduated this year with degrees in Education.
·      Robert Wake, a veteran graduate and Purple Heart recipient who came to Three Rivers after overcoming a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. Wake is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa academic honor society, served as President of the Student Veterans Association, and received the Mo-Kan-Ne TRiO Achiever award for his participation in Three Rivers’ ACHIEVE program.

This year marks the 49th anniversary of the college’s first commencement ceremony since its founding in 1966. Since then, Three Rivers has served over 100,000 students from its degree, transfer, and career-technical programs. Registration is currently open for Fall classes at Three Rivers. To learn more about registering for classes at Three Rivers, call the Welcome Center at 573-840-9605 or visit trcc.edu.

Poplar Bluff, Missouri - Mackenzie Moore has been awarded the $1,000 Poplar Bluff Public School Foundation scholarship.

Moore has completed 59 credits at Three Rivers College while attending high school through the College Now program. She has plans to enroll in Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, where she will study elementary education with a focus on middle school language arts. Upon completing her master’s, she hopes to secure a teaching job in Poplar Bluff, “giving back to the community that gave so much to me,” she said.

The foundation scholarship has been awarded to Poplar Bluff High School students, past graduates or present-day, since 2001. The foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to furthering the educational opportunities of its students and promoting innovation in the classroom.

Pictured: Foundation president Dr. Amber Richardson awards PBHS senior Mackenzie Moore a teaching scholarship on Wednesday, April 26.

Photos and article submitted by Tim Krakowiak, Communications/Marketing Director, Poplar Bluff R-I School District

Poplar Bluff, Missouri - Poplar Bluff High School senior Hamiz Mirza was among 15 select students to receive the Missouri Award for Outstanding Achievement in Citizenship on Monday, April 17, in Jefferson City.

The annual state honor—based on academic achievement, participation in extracurricular activities and service to the community—was established in 1989 as a provision under Senate Bill 198. Mirza will also be recognized on the American Bar Association’s Civics and Law Honor Roll.

“A lot of kids can ace government class, but it’s another thing to go out into the community and change lives,” said Mirza’s AP government teacher Mitch Davis during a special recognition Thursday, April 20, at the school board meeting.

Davis and R-I Superintendent Scott Dill presented Mirza with resolutions from the Missouri House of Representatives and Senate signed by Speaker Todd Richardson and Sen. Doug Libla, respectively.

Mirza, who has been accepted at St. Louis University, received straight A’s in several advanced social studies classes throughout his high school career, during which he served as captain of the speech and debate team, placing first last year in a district contest. This school year he helped found the Politics Club, a non-partisan student organization that meets weekly, and was responsible for hosting a watch party attended by over 100 students on presidential election night.

“I would argue he has been successful in changing the dialogue in our school from hyperpartisan to more of a reflective, collegial atmosphere where it is now ‘cool’ to hear the other side’s views about the role and scope of government in our everyday lives,” wrote Davis on Mirza’s nomination form, which was also signed by PBHS Principal Mike Kiehne.

Perhaps even more meaningful, as Davis indicated to the Board of Education, Mirza volunteered over 200 hours to Smiles of Hope Dental Clinic, a nonprofit operation that began with one philanthropist making monthly clinical visits to a church. The clinic grew within several years to acquire about a dozen licensed dentists, treating more than 2,000 people and extracting over 6,000 teeth, for little to no cost to the patient.

Mirza was further inspired to spend 50 hours of his own, teaching proper dental care to children at churches and schools. He also volunteered 120 hours at the United Gospel Rescue Mission, along with splitting another 100 hours between hospital work and teaching swimming.

“While witnessing single mothers struggling to feed their children, a health care system that has failed many, and a country that is more divided and partisan than ever, it is easy to allow pessimism to leak into one’s own life,” wrote Mirza in a qualifying essay about citizenship. He went on to state: “As citizens of a representative democracy, the burden of ensuring our government is running properly doesn’t just lie with the people working in Washington – it relies on the work and involvement of everyday citizens who vote and raise awareness for what they believe is right.”

Pictured are PBHS instructor Mitch Davis (left) and R-I Superintendent Scott Dill (right) present Hamiz Mirza with official resolutions for his model citizenry during the school board meeting.

Photo and article submitted by Tim Krakowiak, Communications/Marketing Director, Poplar Bluff R-I School District