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
Poplar Bluff, Missouri - Montana Chitwood was Poplar Bluff High School’s fourth recipient of the $400 Kyle Dicken Memorial Scholarship.
Chitwood plans to study music education at Missouri State University in Springfield. “She’s in the marching band, jazz, concert – pretty much her whole schedule is band,” said instructor Stephen Winters, half-jokingly.
Curtis and Wanda Dicken, the grandparents of the late Kyle, who would have graduated in the Class of 2014, would like to grow their endowment fund, which they say is the only scholarship available exclusively to local band students. For more information, email the Community Foundation of the Ozarks at awingo@cfozarks.org or call 573-803-1248.
Pictured (From left) Curtis and Wanda Dicken, Montana Chitwood, and Stephen Winters.
Poplar Bluff, Missouri - Multi-sport student athletes who display exemplary sportsmanship, ethics and integrity—as determined by coaches—received awards of excellence from the Missouri State High School Activities Association on Friday, May 19.
Sierra Sievers and Joseph Hardimon were named Missouri Good Sports at Poplar Bluff Junior High, and Katie Sliger and Adam Vincent received the annual award at Senior High. Sierra plays basketball, volleyball and cross country, with an 11.0 GPA. Joseph plays basketball, and track and field, with a 9.8 GPA. Katie runs cross country, track and field, and participates in swimming and diving, with a 10.886 GPA. Adam plays football and soccer, and runs track and field, with a 9.944 GPA in the classroom.
“We at MSHSAA firmly believe that a positive role model such as yourself can positively influence the actions of others in your school – your teammates, younger students, your opponents and even spectators,” stated Jason West, MSHSAA communications director. “By taking the responsible steps in displaying positive sportsmanship, you are helping to rekindle the spirit of citizenship and are serving as a positive representation of your school and community.”
Pictured: (From left) Adam Vincent, Katie Sliger, Athletic Director Kent Keith, Sierra Sievers and Joseph Hardimon.
Photo and article submitted by Tim Krakowiak, Communications/Marketing Director, Poplar Bluff R-I School District
Poplar Bluff, Missouri - Graduating senior Katie Huskey has been awarded the $1,000 Dr. Michael D. Laseter Memorial Scholarship for Poplar Bluff High School.
Huskey, who plans on studying biomedical engineering at Columbia University in New York, wrote in her essay that she would like to marry her love of technology and her desire to help others by designing prosthetics to improve the quality of life for amputees.
Huskey is the 10th student to be awarded the Laseter scholarship since its inception. Dr. Laseter was a physician specializing in internal medicine at Kneibert Clinic for over 20 years. After retiring from medicine in 1994, he taught physiology at PBHS on a voluntary basis for five years.
Pictured: Donna Laseter presents a scholarship check to Katie Huskey, who plans to enter the field of medicine.Photo and article submitted by Tim Krakowiak, Communications/Marketing Director, Poplar Bluff R-I School District
