Poplar Bluff, MO - Fifty universities, technical trade schools and branches of the military were represented during the return of the College Fair on Tuesday, Oct. 19, at Poplar Bluff High School.

“Our juniors have not had a normal year since eighth grade,” pointed out Sara Woodard, PBHS counselor. While the public health crisis “created some virtual opportunities students didn’t have before,” she continued, the opportunity for students to have questions answered in person is unparalleled.

The hope, Woodard noted, is to offer students “as much exposure” to postsecondary options as possible. The annual event, organized through the Missouri Association for College Admission Counseling, is open to PBHS juniors and seniors, as well as Top 30 sophomores.

There were a few institutions represented for the first time in recent memory, according to the counseling department, including the University of Mississippi and the Nossi College of Art in Nashville. 

Michelle Donovan, Nossi admissions representative, explained how the art school was looking to branch out into the Missouri market, and the St. Louis National College Fair was canceled. Specializing in just five select programs, Nossi offers a fixed-tuition policy with no out-of-state fees, and recently added dormitories.

Another resource available for high schoolers is a full-time college and career adviser, Jade McCain, who began at her alma mater last month. A collaboration between the Missouri College Advising Corps under the University of Missouri Extension and AmeriCorps, the position is offered at host schools with a high percentage of low-income, underrepresented and prospective first-generation college students.

Advisers, like McCain of the PBHS Class of 2017, are often from backgrounds and schools similar to the students that they serve. The “near-peer approach” is different than other programs in that the advisers are available to all students on campus for postsecondary planning, apprenticeship opportunities and coordinating group activities, according to MCAC literature.

Pictures: Students stop to learn about culinary arts and other degree programs offered at Sullivan University in Louisville.

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

Poplar Bluff, MO - An alumna returned to Poplar Bluff Schools, not long after she graduated at the top of her class, to speak with the Junior High design and modeling class about her experiences thus far studying engineering.

Valedictorian and student body president of the PBHS Class of 2019, Sophie Rowland, who served as guest speaker on Thursday, Sept. 29, is a junior at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla and works for Proterra, an electric vehicle technology manufacturer.

“All engineers have one objective, and it’s to solve problems,” Rowland told the class, which included exploring careers students for part of the school day. She broke down the different branches of engineering, noting that she works as a system engineer, “designing processes to be more efficient.”

Following a short presentation, Rowland led a group exercise that involved constructing a boat out of a 6-by-6 inch piece of aluminum foil using a single pair of scissors. The team with the structure that holds the greatest number of pennies without sinking in a tub of water won a treat.

Instructor Jodie Berry’s team “taco” led the challenge during third hour, with 111 pennies. Eighth grader Bryant Miller explained that their victorious strategy was to make the sides of the structure the most compact. “We kept packing [the tinfoil] in and packing it in,” he commented, speculating that if they doubled up on layering the bottom of the boat as well, the boat could hold even more coins.

When the class reconvened to analyze the experiment, Rowland revealed that the top team created a boat with the highest surface area to distribute the weight. During the Q&A portion of the lecture afterward, Rowland advocated for the engineering career field, comparing the salary range to that of a doctor, without the additional years of post-graduate schooling. 

She will complete her engineering degree in just four years, and then take the principles and practice of engineering exam in order to be declared a professional. Part of the Missouri S&T program is to complete an engineering co-op, and Rowland has ambitiously landed apprenticeships at C.E. Norton Construction & Plumbing, Hunter Engineering Company and her most recent job. 

Serving as project manager, helping to build battery-powered buses, Rowland shared how Poterra makes the only bus in the world fabricated entirely out of composite material so the lightweight, aerodynamic vehicle can travel further. She worked full time at the South Carolina operation over the summer, she said, when the fifth-generation bus was released.

“I wish I had something like this when I was in school – even at the high school level,” Rowland later observed of the new Project Lead the Way elective, which is one of three Gateway courses offered this year. She said she was just fortunate to connect with local engineers to gain some initial exposure in the field.

According to Berry, the PLTW design and modeling class will continue to expose the students to as many STEM-related careers—in science, technology, engineering and math—as possible. The next guest speaker lined up will be an orthotist.

Pictured: Sophie Rowland of the PBHS Class of 2019 shows PLTW design and modeling students a picture of an electric bus she helped build.

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

Mark Twain School students are gaining perhaps just as much as they give while helping to address the food insecurity in the community, organizers say.

Since the beginning of the calendar year, teacher Darla Nunn has served as chaperone over the volunteer students at the Bread Shed. The group assists with the nonprofit's A Better Childhood program, which supplies monthly food baskets to R-I families in need; the senior food distribution in cooperation with the SEMO Food Bank; and diaper drives in collaboration with the Diaper Bank of the Ozarks. 

“Kids can always find the negative, but what do you bring to the table to make it positive,” asked Nunn, who leads the Jobs for America’s Graduates program at Mark Twain. “I can’t do it all by myself, but as a collective group like the Bread Shed, we can work together to make things better. 

The community service functions as a resume enhancer for students, she noted, fitting in with JAG-Missouri’s project-based learning model. In addition, the short field trips serve as a motivator for life skills students who enjoy a change of pace in the school day, and meet the requisite building expectations.

“I know I have food in a home where I can get a drink when I want, and go to sleep in a bed,” high school student Tristan White commented. “There are people out there who are hungry and homeless and don’t have anything, and I can help them.”

Jim Ward, executive director of the Bread Shed, said the work could not be carried out without helpers like the students from Mark Twain. Besides greeting guests, he said that the young people load the boxes, which often include produce, cereal, snacks, eggs, meat, bread, canned goods, bottled water and more.

The arrangement initially began about five years ago with Junior High assistant principal Corey Jameson, then lead teacher at the former Poplar Bluff Graduation Center. “The worth ethic translated to the classroom,” he recalled.

“Each student that participated in the Bread Shed volunteer opportunity became better students in school,” Jameson said. “Helping others gave them a sense of self-worth and accomplishment, some of them hadn’t experienced in a long time or possibly ever.”

In addition to the programs that the students help with during the workweek, the faith-based organization rotates counties providing a mobile food pantry and clothing giveaway on weekends. Lastly, the Bread Shed serves a free hot meal on Sundays through its Breaking Bread program at its North D Street location, where mobile shower units were recently added. For more information on services available, please visit breadshed.org.

Pictured:  Students (right to left) Tiffany Womack and Kennedy Robertson help load up a laundry basket carried by Caiden Politte of Mark Twain School on Wednesday, Sept. 22, at the Bread Shed.

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

Sparklight recently donated 50 Google Chromebooks to Lake Road Elementary to be used to teach coding during latchkey as the school works toward its goal of incorporating STEM into its curriculum.

“Now more than ever, student access to computers is a necessity,” Sparklight Senior Vice President of Technology Services Ken Johnson stated in a press release. “By donating Chromebooks, we’re giving students in need the opportunity to use technology that will ultimately prepare them for a progressively digital workforce.”

A company representative reached out to Lake Road at the end of last school year, as part of its Chromebooks for Kids initiative. Sparklight has given away over 2,000 devices to Title I elementary schools in the markets where it offers broadband services.

The devices have allowed third grade teacher Michelle McDaniel to start the ‘Kids Who Code’ club during which she uses resources from Code.org and the Girls Who Code nonprofit to teach students how to code. Upward of 40 participants, grades 1-6, gather for about an hour and a half in the gymnasium each morning. 

“My hope is that it will foster an interest in computer sciences,” McDaniel explained. “In this way, hopefully, the kids can also become interested in robotics and engineering.”

While the elementary schools are 1:1, the additional laptop cart brings Lake Road closer to realizing its vision of having a space dedicated to science, technology, engineering and math, according to Principal Rondi Vaughn.

“Having these computers in a cart for this purpose will allow us to give students the accessibility to technology while participating in these [activities] and not having to take any technology outside their classrooms,” Vaughn said. “Computers are an integral component of our students’ learning.”

Pictured: Computer technicians Kyle Pearson (forefront) and Joe Salamone inventory Chromebooks on Tuesday, Aug. 24, in the conference room at Lake Road so teacher Michelle McDaniel (standing) can incorporate technology during latchkey.

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

A Poplar Bluff Junior High faculty member has been awarded a $500 grant from the Missouri Retired Teachers Foundation to create a puppet theater and purchase a digital camera for her drama elective. 

Hilary Taylor was selected among nine grant recipients in Region 12 of the Missouri Retired Teachers Association out of 112 successful proposals throughout the state, plus 10 awarded to school support staff.

“This project will allow students to interpret literature through various dramatic representations,” Taylor wrote in her grant proposal entitled ‘Literature Through Drama.’ “Through these experiences students will increase their editing, peer review and comprehension skills.” 

This is the fifth consecutive year that an R-I educator was among those regionally who submitted successful grants, bringing the running total for the school district to $4,500 from the nonprofit. Since 2017, Taylor has been selected as a winner on two previous occasions – to enhance her robotics and honors English classes, respectively.

The MRTF is the fundraising arm of the association, made up of retired educators whose purpose is to promote the professional, social and economic welfare of all retired school employees, according to its website.

Pictured: (Left to right) Dr. Scott Dill, R-I superintendent; Mark Cook, MRTA Region 12 vice president; Hilary Taylor, Junior High teacher; Candace Warren, Junior High principal; Linda Surber, Butler County unit president; and Arleta Godwin, MRTA president.

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