Written by
Jessica Snider, SMT Writer
This month's calendar girl is Taylor Owens. Taylor is a junior at Dexter High School and the daughter of Ken and Shannon Owens.
Aside from being February Calendar Girl, Taylor Owens is the reigning Miss Dexter, Miss Heartland, and Miss SEMO Fair. She is a member of the Varsity Tennis Team and Varsity Softball Team.
Taylor enjoys Cadet Teaching and the Rowdy Gals. During the summer, Taylor is a lifeguard with the Dexter Aquatic Center.
Taylor Owens had a very big year in 2012, and she will have another busy year in 2013 as she will be crowning a few pageants.
Photo Courtesy of Shannon Putnam.
Ti Agon Haiti – Nothing is more satisfying to a person’s spirit than to travel the mountains of Haiti with Global Compassion Ministries. As many Dexter area residents can share, this is a trip not for the faint at heart as it involves grueling travel that is physically demanding. All team members are committed to their passion for serving others.
The Dexter group for 2013 is made up of six area individuals, 5 males and one female. A veteran to the mission field, David Fleming began to share with area friends about his intention of joining the Global Team for 2013. His heartfelt desires motivated additional traveling companion of Steve Kinder, Matt Kinder, Bud Griffin, Alan Hedrick and Tracy Hedrick.
The 2013 winter trip had a game plan to move into the area of Ti Agon, where they are partnering with Living Water Ministries to extend their Christian love to the people in the far Northwest of Haiti. The primary focus of Global Compassion’s trip is multi-fold building of 14 x 20 homes for the residents of Ti Agon, providing women’s ministries with hygiene classes, Bible school for the kids, food and clothes distribution, as well as other personal expressions of love.
As shown in the YouTube video on the Global Compassion website (www.globalcompassionministries.com), both groups endure a very hot and dusty first day of travel in the country of Haiti. In years past, team members have ridden the truck as long as twenty-two hours. With major improvements in portions of the roads, this year’s group arrived after nine hours on the road.
The groups chariot is an Army deuce-and-a-half personnel hauler, which is fully loaded with both construction supplies and each member’s personal trunks. Best efforts are given to comfortable accommodations, but very few attempts truly bring relief throughout the long, dusty ride to the Northwest.
The Global Team is broken down into two separate travel teams, one three-week and the second group a two-week adventure. Team one left the U.S. on January 20th and group two traveled to meet them leaving St. Louis on January 27th. Both groups will return together on February 8th.
The mission team has adopted a focus on the Northwest Haiti region near Ma Rouge. With comparable beachfronts found in Cancun Mexico, the coastal beauty of Haiti is breathtakingly beautiful. Though not in the timeshares are , the area is surprisingly uninhabited
Many of the team members were initially involved with the building of Churches throughout this same area. The group offered hope, passion and opportunities to bless others and to be blessed on the trip.
This coming Sunday, some will lead songs and music while others will step to the stage to deliver the Word of God. The group will spend the remainder of their time developing relationships with the Haitian people in the Northwest and assisting them to deepen their own personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Dexter, Missouri - On Friday, January 11, 2013, Dexter native Tony Sandusky graduated from United States Marine Corps boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, Calif.
While in boot camp, Sandusky faced and overcame many adversities; his younger brother, Joshua Sandusky - who was taking the initial steps to join the United States Marine Corps - tragically passed away in December of 2012.
In memory of his younger brother and in honor of his father (Charlie, a retired member of the United States Navy), Sandusky put forth extra effort in everything he did during his final weeks of boot camp.
Not only did Sandusky graduate on time, but he graduated with honors despite missing a week of training. Out of nearly 500 other Marine Recruits, Sandusky was named Platoon Honor man.
This position gave him command of 80 fellow recruits and granted him the prestigious honor of wearing his 'dress blues' during the graduation festivities - an honor bestowed on only six other Marine Recruits in his graduating class.
Following a brief break after graduation, Sandusky will return to San Diego for further training at Camp Pendleton. He will then transfer to Quantico, Va., for another training session before beginning his assignment as a member of the Presidential Guard in Washington D.C.
Congratulations Private First Class Sandusky - your friends and family could not be more proud of you!
Written by
Jessica Snider, SMT Writer
It might not be a holiday marked on your calendar, but for the residents at Central Gardens, they know that today is National Pie Day!
Some "National Days" are just plain silly, but some can give you a good reason to celebrate!
When Debbie Snider, the dietary manager at Central Gardens, saw that today was going to be National Pie Day, she figured this would be the perfect oppurtunity to have a pie-tasting.
She then approached Michelle Stearnes, Activity Director, with her pie-tasting idea. Michelle was quickly on board for the activities!
Some of the residents were then asked what kind of pies they would like to have at the pie-tasting. Pecan, chocolate, coconut-cream, and fried apple, were a few of the pies that the residents suggested.
The pie-tasting took place about 10:00 this morning at Central Gardens. About twenty-five residents were in attendance for today's fesitivites!
Not only were the pies strictly for the residents, the staff enjoyed them as well!
Dub and Eloise Connor are showing off coconut cream and chocolate pie in the photo above.
Jessica Snider, SMT Writer
It would be difficult to be someone who lives in or around the community and not know of the great talent of the Lady Bearcat Basketball Team, or sometimes referred to as “LBB.”
With Coaches Chad Allen and Eric Sitze to look up to, Lady Bearcat Basketball has become something very exciting for this community. The young but dedicated team practices day after day to overcome their competitors.
Although the Lady Bearcat Team is full of talent and hard-working players, recently one of the senior athletes has been acknowledge for the breaking of an outstanding record.
This past Thursday night, senior Brittany Harris broke the all-time scoring record for the girl’s basketball program at Dexter High School as the Bearcats took on the Neelyville Tigers.
With twenty-seven points on the night against Neelyville, Brittany Harris destroyed the record held by Rachel Blunt which was set from 2002-2005. Throughout Blunt’s career, she collected 1,491 points, which took eight years for someone to surpass. After the game with Neelyville, Harris holds a new record of 1,511 points, which is sure to only increase as the season goes on and more games are played.
In her post game interview, Harris acknowledged Abby Warren as a mentor and friend to her during her freshman year at Dexter High School. As a sophomore, Harris said she was required to assume the role of the veteran player of the Lady Bearcats. At that point, she became the mentor to the team’s underclassmen. Just as Warren had done for her, she would take the younger team members under her wing and help lead the team to victory through hard work and determination.
One of the most amazing parts of Harris’ accomplishment was being able to break the scoring record while being surrounded by the other very talented young ladies who also contribute high point-totals for the Lady Bearcats.
It is easy to see when watching Harris on the court that she loves playing basketball. From the beginning of her freshman year at Dexter High School, many people knew that Harris would evolve to be a very big part of the Lady Bearcat Basketball program.
Brittany Harris continues to stay humble victory after victory, and even as she breaks a huge record she gives some of the glory to other people.
Harris noted having such good teammates removed the pressure of being the “go-to” person on the team.
What a wonderful accomplishment for Brittany Harris to make her senior year and how exciting to get to share it with other hard-working Bearcats!
Keep up the good work, Brittany and LBB!
