Essex, Missouri - The Richland High School Library Club supports the Missouri Department of Transportation each year when they participate in the Battle of the Belts. Richland has been a part of this campaign for multiple years and will gladly continue promoting seat belt and motor vehicle safety in the many years to come.
The Library Club members take it upon themselves to stand outside bright and early on an October morning and wait near the entrance to the high school, where they stop each and every vehicle to check the driver and the passenger for their seatbelts.
In 2006, The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, in partnership with American Family Insurance, created a statewide competition: the Battle of the Belts. The Battle of the Belts competition takes place in Missouri during the whole month of October and the first week of November. The participants in this show how much they care about the safety of their fellow students and the importance of buckling up. The idea of the competition will not only promote seat belt and vehicle safety, but will also save lives in the long run.
This year, Richland High School and the Library Club Members were awarded with the Silver Award. To receive the Silver Award, more than 95% of the school’s students must have driven into the school with their seatbelts fastened. Richland is proud to receive their award for having 96.8% of their students wearing their seatbelts.
Sandy Tyrone, a representative from the Missouri Department of Transportation, came to the high school to present the award. Tyrone has travelled throughout Missouri and has visited each Missouri district to present multiple awards. In the Southeast Missouri District, only four schools qualified to receive awards. Notre Dame High School and Saxony Lutheran both qualified for the Gold Award while Richland and South Pemiscot received the Silver Awards. In the 2012 competition, only 34 schools in the whole state qualified.
Mrs. Tyrone was also accompanied by a Missouri State Trooper, Officer Clark Parrott, who is a member of the Public Information and Education Division. Officer Parrott created a presentation to show both the junior high and high school student the importance of driving safely. Although more than 96% of the students were securely buckled into their vehicle, there was still 4% who refused to.
“There are many excuses to give people to explain why you never wear your seatbelt,” Officer Parrott explained, “But none of those excuses will save you in the end.”
Officer Parrott continued to speak about topics that each of the students are familiar with and that have been addressed in recent or previous assemblies. Texting and driving, driving while intoxicated, and driving while under the influence are all major dangers to not only the students, but also to the other drivers on the road.
Officer Parrott confirmed that fatal car wrecks happen on a daily basis and he has seen numerous deadly accidents throughout his career. He told the students a heart touching story about his daughter’s best friends who were lost at a young age due to not wearing their seatbelts when they were driving. He encouraged the students to not only buckle up, but encourage the ones around them to buckle up as well.
When the students received the Silver Award from Officer Parrott and Mrs. Tyrone, they also agreed to take another pledge called Safe and Sober. When the students signed this pledge, they promised to not drink and drive or to be under the influence of any drugs while operating a vehicle. Earlier in the year when the Battle of the Belts was still going on, the students also signed a pledge to not text and drive.
With these pledges, promises, and inspirational stories, the students make it a new goal to receive the Gold Award next year, where they will have 99% of their students wearing their seatbelts.
The recent Missouri State Beta Club Convention in Branson, Missouri that took place last weekend must have created a spark throughout the Beta Club members from the Bootheel area. Many of the Beta Clubs have been participating in service projects and are already planning fundraisers and activities to take place in the near future.
Beta Club is a nation wide organization that offers opportunities to both junior high and high school students that excel in academic excellence. The requirements for Beta Club are a 3.5 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) and numerous service hours and/or projects that are completed yearly. The Beta Club motto is “Lead by serving others” which is why all clubs create service projects.
Beta Club members and sponsors try to focus on creating a better environment for the citizens in the community. The Poplar Bluff High School Beta Club spent their Wednesday afternoon on the highway and decided to help clean it up and keep it clean for their service project this year. The members picked up trash along a 3.6 mile stretch all the way down U.S. 60 South. The group completed their attire with bright orange vests and signs for their protection and safety. The club helped out the Missouri Department of Transportation and became a part of the Adopt-A-Highway Program, where they will continue to keep their part of the highway litter-free.
The Richland High School Beta Club is also preparing to take a trip to Mobile, Alabama to compete at the Beta Club National Convention in the middle of June. The members are currently working on fundraisers and are planning a car wash. With the spring weather coming around the corner, they will also be starting a service project of their own. In the previous years, the club participated in a City Clean Up Day, where they were taken into Essex and helped elderly or disabled citizens clean up their yards. They have also held a 5K run and donated all of the proceeds to a local family in need. Throughout the winter months, they have had canned food drives, frozen food drives, and Adopt-A-Family project where they supported a local family and bought them a Christmas tree, presents, and food for the holidays.
More spring service projects will be taking place throughout the next few weeks and months while the weather warms up and more opportunities arise for the club members to participate within their community.
Dexter Senior High School- This listing of activities is a service offered by the ShowMe Times, working in partnership with the Dexter Public Schools for your convenience.
The ShowMe Times would like to encourage all of our readers to support our local school system. The education and growth of young people in our community is important to everyone's future.
We would like everyone to join us as we encourage these young students in their pursuits.
So lets get involved by supporting the events at our schools.
Dee Loflin, SMT Manager/Writer
The Dexter Bearcat Booster Club was also there handing out FREE shirts to the students. "We had some left-over shirts from previous years and several of the district shirts. We just wanted to give them away to any student who wanted one." stated one Booster Member. The students were excited about getting the free shirts at the Pep Rally and began putting them on over their school clothes.
The cheerleaders lead the crowd in a few cheers and both Coach Eric Sitze and Coach Allen spoke about the girls. Coach Sitze introduced each girl on the team and talked about a great season they have had thus far and how he has coached the two seniors since they were in middle school. Coach Allen also spoke about the girls' record and how he has enjoyed coaching them this year. "I think we have a real chance against Incarnate Word," Allen commented. "A real good chance."
After a few words from Mrs. Michelle Kirkley and Laura Stone, the crowd cheered and the basketball team headed towards the chartered bus. Mark Booker, (Owner of Bootheel Recycling) and Matt Mills donated the money to rent the bus for the Lady Cats and their entourage. The cheerleaders, coaches and the basketball players were blessed to receive such a donation and were happy to travel in comfort to Columbia.
The bus driver circled the entire campus. Students were lined in front of the T.S. Hill Middles School, Central, Southwest and the high school holding banners, signs, and pom poms as the bus drove in front of their school. The Middle School was chanting at the top of their lungs, "LBB! LBB! LBB!" over and over again.
The girls on the bus were waiving out the window and some were recording with their cell phones and video cameras! What a great way to send these girls to the ShowMe Showdown in Columbia.
Good Luck Lady Cats! One Team One Dream!
Branson, Missouri - High schools from all over Missouri travelled to Branson for a three day weekend to participate in the annual Missouri State Beta Convention. Members participated in many different categories of academics, performances, and many other activities during their stay. Beta Club is a club for students that uphold academic excellence throughout their high school years.
This year, there were nearly three thousand Missouri students that attended the Moon River Theater to elect the new officers, get inspired by the number of speakers, and bond with their fellow Betas. The theme of the 2013 Convention is “The Heart of Beta” and the National Convention will be held on June 19th-22nd in Mobile, Alabama.
Last year, the Missouri Betas elected all three officers from the Southeast Missouri area. Zachary Goode is from Bloomfield High School and held the position of Missouri State Beta President. Sarah B. Wilson is a student from Malden High School and was elected the Vice President last year. Jessica Shidler is a member of the Richland High School Beta Club and held the position of Secretary.
Bloomfield, Malden, and Richland have become quite the Beta trio throughout the past couple of years. This year, the same three schools were put in office again.
Darren Green (Malden), was elected as the new President with his Big Beta Theory campaign skit and competed against Vinburnum High School for the position. Green is a proud leader of the Malden Betas who also took 1st place in Creative Writing, Oratory Competition, Campaign Skit, and Group Talent. Wilson has officially completed her job as the State Vice President but Green is eager to step in and represent Malden at Nationals over the summer.
Kannon Qualls (Richland), was elected the new Vice President with his “Express Yourself” campaign skit. While growing up with autism, Qualls knew that the song and skit was perfect to represent his personality and his speech. Qualls defeated nine other schools from all over Missouri and was named the 2013 Vice President. Richland also took second place in the Acrylic Painting Competition and third place in the Spelling Competition.
Kendra Elder (Bloomfield), was voted in as the new Beta Secretary with her “Kicking It With Kendra” campaign skit. Bloomfield ran against two other schools and successfully placed 2nd in the Campaign Skit Competition. They also performed in Special Talent with a vocal/instrumental quartet entitled “Fly”.
Not only officers were elected at the Beta Convention, but the members also got to experience multiple inspirational stories and speakers throughout their weekend. Throughout the three different sessions held in the theater, the students got to enjoy comedies, music, and other talents all weekend long.
The officers from last year are now on the road travelling with visiting officers and are eager and willing to attend other Beta Conventions across the country. Missouri was proud to have a total of thirteen visiting officers, including the South Carolina and National Secretary who performed an amazing dance routine and gave an outstanding speech called “Run, Forrest, Run”.
The Beta Club motto is “Lead by serving others” and the members that attend this convention really stick to that saying. Together, the Missouri schools raised multiple thousands of dollars to donate to St. Jude Children’s Hospital and also contributed to the MDA Foundation while they were at convention. The Betas were also surprised when a member of the Herschend family, the same Herschend that own both Silver Dollar City and Dollywood, took the stage and spoke to the Betas about the value of giving and the happiness and fulfillment that comes with it.
Throughout the weekend, all of the Missouri clubs and their members bonded together and learned new things from all of the people that came onto the stage. There was a lot of laughter, standing ovations, and maybe even a few tears. Overall, the convention was an overall success and the Missouri State Trio will be heading to Mobile, Alabama to represent the state of Missouri once more in June.
Congratulations to all of the winners!
