“Our goal is to raise $10,000 to endow a scholarship for students with financial needs,” said Stephenson. “I hope everyone will enjoy the songs, which are holiday favorites. More important, however, is the contribution the sales of the CD will make to improving lives in Southeast Missouri through access to higher education.”
The Gift and The Gift 2– can be purchased for $15 each at the Three Rivers College Bookstore and the Café ARC on the college’s Poplar Bluff Campus, and online at bookstore.trcc.edu. Also for sale is Stephenson’s “The Promise,” a collection of gospel music.
Stephenson, who became President of Three Rivers in 2009, has been playing the piano since age 9. He began composing music in high school and has focused on instrumental and vocal arranging for the last 25 years. Stephenson initially released The Gift in 2010, The Promise in 2011, and The Gift 2 in 2012.
“This CD scholarship project has allowed me to give back by using my God-given talents to raise funds to create opportunities for students,” Stephenson said. “Many of our students struggle with finances in pursuit of a college education. Often a boost, such as covering the cost of books or paying a lab fee, can make a difference in their efforts to improve their lives. This project will give us a scholarship fund that we can use to help those students.”
The Gift is a solo project with Stephenson performing on piano instrumental versions of such holiday classics as Let it Snow, Silver Bells, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and Silent Night/O Holy Night.
“The Promise” features Stephenson on piano and keyboards and his family and friends on instruments like guitar and fiddle. Songs include church hymn favorites like “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” “In the Garden,” and “As the Deer,” all arranged by Stephenson.
The Gift 2 features Stephenson on piano and keyboard; John Kulinich, bass and lead guitar; Jon Muncher, drums; Christie Brown, percussion; and Thomas Jenkins, fiddle. Songs on the album include: Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree; O Come, O Come, Emmanuel; Jingle Bell Rock; It Came Upon a Midnight Clear; Do You Hear What I Hear?; The Birthday of a King; My Favorite Things/Toyland medley; Emmanuel; I Wonder As I Wander; and Feliz Navidad.
Three Rivers College is committed to contributing to the quality of life in Southeast Three Rivers College is committed to contributing to the quality of life in Southeast Missouri with quality, affordable higher education opportunities and community services that support and encourage the economic, civic, and cultural vitality of the region. For more information about college and workforce programs and upcoming events, visit trcc.edu
Dee Loflin SMT Manager/Writer
Dexter Senior High School - This listing of future activities is a service offered by the ShowMe Times, working in partnership with the Dexter Public Schools for your convenience.
We hope you will mark your calendar and we encourage everyone to support our local students and their activities. The education and growth of young people in our community is the key to everyone's future!
If you would like to submit information and a picture of a student and his/her accomplishments, send it to news@showmetimes.com.
Dee Loflin SMT Manager/Writer
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.
If you would like to submit information and a picture of a student and his/her accomplishments, send it to news@showmetimes.com. We would love to hear from you.
Submitted by Jill Temples
SMT Writer
Columbia, Missouri- The University of Missouri has received an estate commitment of $1 million to create the Col. Dwight B. Schannep U.S. Army Air Corps Veterans Scholarship Fund, which will support full academic scholarships for MU students who are military veterans. This gift was committed to create opportunities for future veterans to pursue higher education and help transition from their military time defending their country to being successful citizens and helping build a better America. The donors, who requested to have their identities remain confidential, did not attend MU as students but chose the school for this gift to honor Missouri native Col. Dwight Schannep, the positive impact of the MU Veterans Center, and MU’s excellent national academic reputation and Midwestern values.
“We chose Mizzou because many veterans are from Midwestern states, and Columbia would not be far from home for them,” the donors said. “Second, veterans can study almost anything at MU and prepare to become engineers, teachers, doctors, or just about anything they want to be. Finally, we chose MU because of its academic excellence, notably the School of Journalism, which we’d expect would attract veterans from all over America who want to become journalists. We hope this gift will enable veterans who’ve served our country to study at a great school to prepare for the rest of their lives after military service. Scholarship recipients may be 21-year-old enlisted service members working for a first degree, 25-year-old officers wanting to become physicians or journalists, or 45-year-old (young) retirees aiming at second careers in fields such as teaching. We also want to honor the service of a veteran like Col. Schannep by having his name live forever.”
The donors, one of whom is a military veteran, believe veterans receiving this scholarship will find Col. Schannep’s life inspiring and worthy of honor. He was born and raised in Versailles, Missouri, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and began a career of service in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Schannep fought in World War II, along with much of the Greatest Generation, and served with distinction away from his family for almost the entire war. He then passed away tragically in a military airplane crash shortly after the war.
For veterans who receive this scholarship in the future, as well as all MU student veterans, the nationally recognized MU Veterans Center will help meet their needs, answer questions and provide resources, including academic advisement, mentoring, tutoring, and support with financial and personal issues. The center also provides assistance for families during deployments, coordinates a network of health professionals with expertise in addressing the needs of veterans, and runs a network of social support groups among MU veterans. Carol Fleisher, director of the MU Veterans Center, says this gift will go a long way in helping veterans transition to lives outside of the military.
“Almost six years ago, MU decided to make our campus military friendly by creating a full-service Veterans Center that our veterans could call their own,” Fleisher said. “We accomplished this goal, but we were still missing an important piece – scholarships for veterans. The Col. Dwight B. Schannep U.S. Army Air Corps Veterans Scholarship Fund will provide that missing piece and become the cornerstone for our work. I want to thank the donors for their gift, and especially thank them for honoring Col. Dwight B. Schannep. He must have been a wonderful soul to have inspired those he left behind to create this gift. The MU Veterans Center will continue to honor him by caring for those men and women who follow in his footsteps.”
MU Chancellor Brady Deaton believes this gift will be instrumental in furthering the university’s goals of honoring and respecting those who have protected the freedoms of all Americans.
“We are very thankful to the donors for this generous gift,” Deaton said. “This gift will enhance opportunities to advance MU’s mission of education by honoring and rewarding MU students who have served our country. We take pride in the way we recognize our student veterans through the MU Veterans Center and other student programs across campus, and this gift will allow MU to further this noble cause.”
Written by
Beth Farrah, SMT Writer
Essex, Missouri - The Rebels in the elementary school have been celebrating National Young Readers week all week. On Monday, they were read to by their teachers and other students on their Myon Read-Alouds. On Tuesday, they participated in Read and Feed, which included story time while eating popcorn and drinking soda and the kindergarteners even got a quick visit from their guest reader JoJo the Clown! On Wednesday, the students put on their Western themed clothes and Rounded Up a Good Book. Today, the students got to enjoy relaxing lantern-lit reading time out in the hallway for Curl Up with a Good Book.
The ceiling was draped in lights and Chinese lanterns as the students gathered below with their flashlights, lanterns, and favorite books. The students were able to wear their pajamas and bring their favorite blankets to snuggle up with. In honor of the camping scene, the students got to cook s’mores and lay in their sleeping bags during story time.
The students enjoyed this week’s activities and look forward to the play performances done tomorrow by the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders which will officially wrap up National Young Readers Week for 2013.
Photo above taken by Makayla Wake, Yearbook Staff Member for The Rebel.
