A second student at Poplar Bluff High School has earned a four-year U.S. Army scholarship.
Aaron Taylor, a senior, will attend the University of North Georgia, one of six senior military colleges in the nation, where he plans to pursue a degree in international affairs.
Taylor said he chose UNG because of the rigor within its ROTC Corps of Cadets, and the fact that the institution has a Russian language program.
“Taylor has been very engaged with us; he’s a very dynamic leader within our organization,” said Maj. Gregory Crites, senior Army instructor at PBHS. “He’s also very involved with the choir and his youth group at church. He’s just an all-around good citizen.”
Serving as command sergeant major over the Pvt. Billie G. Kanell JROTC Battalion for two years, Taylor has held leadership roles on the drill team, the raider team and the color guard.
Classmate Elizabeth Shirrell previously received a four-year college scholarship from the Army in the first round of selections. Less than 1,000 such scholarships are awarded each year nationally, according to Crites.
Photo: PBHS senior Aaron Taylor, JROTC cadet command sergeant major, received a four-year Army scholarship to attend the University of North Georgia.
Article and photo by Tim Krakowiak, Communications/Marketing Director, Poplar Bluff R-I School District
The Poplar Bluff High School JROTC has been accredited as an Honor Unit with Distinction for scoring a near flawless 98.5 percent on a recent program evaluation.
As a result of receiving the most sought-after unit award, cadets of the Pvt. Billie G. Kanell Battalion have earned the privilege of wearing the Gold HUD Star badge on their uniforms. The inspection takes place every three years, according to Gregory Crites, PBHS senior Army instructor.
“It’s not just another shiny thing,” Maj. Crites stated. “They work hard to be ready for the evaluation and if they’re able to show improvement, they are rewarded on behalf of the district. The challenge now is to maintain that, and they will.”
U.S. Army Cadet Command representatives from out of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps brigade headquarters in Naval Station Great Lakes visited PBHS on Wednesday, Jan. 15, to receive a briefing about the students’ improvement plan, service learning project and program curriculum, plus conducted a drill and color guard evaluation.
Photo: The result of a successful three-year inspection, cadets will now don the Gold HUD Star badge displayed beneath the Poplar Bluff JROTC logo on their uniform.
Article and photo by Tim Krakowiak, Communications/Marketing Director, Poplar Bluff R-I School District
Poplar Bluff Middle School students are creating eBinders, or online portfolios, designed to preserve their best work so they can reflect on what they have learned throughout their educational careers and ultimately utilize on college applications.
The project is being spearheaded by Media Specialist Michele Carmode, who has served in the repurposed librarian position for grades 4-6 since the 2017/18 school year. She has made arrangements to collaborate with instructional coaches at Junior and Senior High so students can continue submitting their learning artifacts in participating classes.
“It is a way to organize a collection of work, a place to reflect on the learning processes, and finally it is a recollection of what students learned for purposes of sharing or studying,” explained Carmode, upon helping a test group of students create templates and personalize their digital Trapper Keepers on Google Chromebooks last week.
In order to make the knowledge visible and be considered an artifact, an object must be lasting, durable and materially present, for example: a photo taken during an activity, a Google Slide presentation, video, essay or work from another application such as Booksnaps or Flipgrip, Carmode continued. “The creation and display of these artifacts allow students opportunities for engagement, revision and feedback, all hallmarks of quality learning design,” she said.
For sixth grade teacher Krissey Whitlock, her favorite aspect about signing up her class is that the internal websites can be used to track progress during student-led parent-teacher conferences. “Students will be able to take ownership of their own growth much faster,” she said. Artifacts uploaded, guided by instructors, will include a reflection piece either written out, as an infographic, or in video format.
Carmode recently became the first Google for Education Certified Trainer in Poplar Bluff among only a few in the region, she reported. With a tenure that spans over two decades in public education, Carmode earned her master’s degree in technology and education from the University of Missouri at Columbia.
She is the “real deal” and an asset to the entire district, according to Middle School Principal Dr. Brad Ownings, who led the effort to evolve his librarian post to meet the needs of Generation Z. “There are tons of articles about how librarians have turned into curators of books, and we need to move on to digital literacy, technology integration and makerspaces,” Owings stated.
Media Specialist Michele Carmode helps a group of students create eBinder templates to collect educational artifact submissions on Tuesday, Sept. 24, in the Middle School Media Center.
Photo and article by Tim Krakowiak, Communications/Marketing Director, Poplar Bluff R-I School District
Chartwells began offering dinner services for free last week at five additional school sites where after school enrichment programs and services such as tutoring, club activities and latch-key are available to all students.
Approved sites under Missouri’s At-Risk Afterschool Program include the Kindergarten Center from 3:55-4:30 p.m., Oak Grove and O’Neal Elementary from 3:50-4:30 p.m., Junior High from 4-4:30 p.m., and Poplar Bluff High School from 5-5:30 p.m
Students participating in athletics or band can receive meals to go, which “is going to touch a lot of lives,” Assistant Superintendent of Business Dr. Amy Jackson reported Thursday, Sept. 19, during the school board meeting. Superintendent Dr. Scott Dill added that the meals would be “nutritionally balanced,” as opposed to vending machine snacks.
Chartwells, a long-standing partner of the R-I school district, received a total of $15,000 in grant funding through No Kid Hungry Missouri in order to purchase backup ovens, as well as warmers and coolers to create the storage space necessary to serve the additional meals.
So far 260 dinners are being served daily by kitchen personnel, officials have recorded. Dinner is already available at Eugene Field, Lake Road and the Middle School for students who participate in ‘power hour’ through the Boys and Girls Club on campus.
“Mom or dad may have to work until 5 or 6,” explained Dixie Harden, food services director. “Now you know your child has had something to eat and you’re not in rush mode when you get home to feed them, because you no longer have to worry about your child being hungry.”
Dinner through Missouri’s At-Risk Afterschool Program, administered by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, is federally-reimbursable under the United States Department of Agriculture since the approved schools serve at least 50 percent of children eligible for free and reduced-price meals.
Following summer school, Chartwells provided children a total of 8,500 meals for lunch and breakfast at Poplar Bluff Head Start and Wheatley School with help from a near $5,000 grant under the same initiative, in cooperation with Family and Community Trust. Meals served throughout July exceeded 10,000 counting those offered through the BGC, Harden reported. Chartwells also sponsors the district Mule Packs program, distributing around 150 bags of nonperishables bimonthly to students in need.
“When you’re in the cafeteria, you can tell when kids are hungry, and to know some kids may not get a meal when they go home [drives] me,” said Harden, noting that dinner is optional if students have arrangements afterward. “I love challenges and am blessed to have the team I have and be able to help in these ways.”
Janice Vincent (forefront) and Angie Kearbey of Chartwells serve hot ravioli to elementary students on Thursday, Sept. 26, at O’Neal.
Photo and article by Tim Krakowiak, Communications/Marketing Director, Poplar Bluff R-I School District
Poplar Bluff, Missouri - Former NFL player Eddie Moss was recognized on the field where he once played on Thursday, Sept. 19, during Poplar Bluff Junior High’s first home football game of the season.
Earlier in the day, Moss spoke about leadership to 115 students in a pod named in his honor under the Junior High’s house system, which groups students across classes and grade levels in an effort to create a sense of camaraderie within the school community.
“In order to be a leader, you also gotta be a follower,” said Moss, who graduated from PBHS in 1967. “If you’re just barking orders, you become a dictator. You gotta listen to the people around you too.”
Having a “good attitude, integrity and people skills” are also key leadership qualities, Moss noted. In preparation for his hometown visit, the students toured the Poplar Bluff Museum to learn about the Moss family, and other pieces of local history displayed in a building over a century-old that the R-I district sold to the city for a dollar
Moss began his athletic career as a basketball player until he started “growing wider instead of taller,” he joked. Past Mules Football coach Jim Lohr took the budding student-athlete under his wing during the summer of Moss’ sophomore year to teach the young man the game. Summertime typically meant farm work so it was a “big deal” for his parents JD and Willie Marie to allow him to stay with the coach, Moss explained, describing Lohr as a “second father.”
As a varsity Mule, Moss played a number of positions including offensive center, defensive nose tackle, running back, fullback, linebacker and later in college, tailback. “It helps to play a lot of positions,” he advised the students about being versatile. The Mules went undefeated in 1966.
Moss earned a full ride to Central Methodist University in Fayette, but unfortunately sustained injuries in an auto accident causing him to lose the scholarship, he reflected. He persevered to play football at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa eventually transferring to Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, where he was named to the All-Conference team.
In 1972, Moss was drafted by the Buffalo Bills but was the last player to get cut during preseason. He returned to Poplar Bluff to help coach the Mules, yet soon would receive a second break, getting picked up by the St. Louis Football Cardinals from 1973-76. He finished his professional career with the Washington Redskins, from 1977-78. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in the Class of 2016.
Moss, who turns 71 on Friday, Sept. 27, resides in St. Louis with his wife Phyllis. Earlier this year, Moss was gracious enough to donate his collection of sports memorabilia to the PBHS wall of fame, revamped by security officer Wesley Lewis.
Eddie Moss Day was organized last week by communication arts teacher Chris East. Each of the school’s houses are named after famous living Poplar Bluff alumni including TV producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, basketball player Tyler Hansbrough, voice-over actor Scott Innes, author Linda Ladd, football player Derland Moore, and Moss himself. The other pods will seek opportunities to make similar connections with their namesakes, according to Principal Candace Warren.
Pictured: Eddie Moss sits with PBJHS students after signing autographs over lunch on Thursday, Sept. 19, in the FEMA gym.
Photo and article submitted by Tim Krakowiak, Communications/Marketing Director, Poplar Bluff R-I School District
