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You've got eMule!
Vol. 10 No. 24
Welcome back to The eMule! Here is the latest news from Poplar Bluff Schools to help start your week on the right hoof.
| Teachers of the Year Honored | |
The annual Teacher of the Year luncheon was held on Tuesday, May 3, at the Westwood Center, celebrating Poplar Bluff’s top teachers at the building, grade-span and district level, as determined by their peers.
Assistant Superintendent of Personnel Dr. Fara Jones noted that the process of ultimately selecting a single educator to represent R-I regionally through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s program is: “intense, rigorous and meticulous.” Congratulating this year’s TOYs, Superintendent Dr. Scott Dill concluded: “You nailed it.”
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Missy Cox (above) was named the Senior High, Secondary Grade-Span and 2022 District TOY. She has taught Family and Consumer Science at PBHS since 2013, and has served as a girls tennis coach and assistant coach for boys tennis. For four years prior, she taught health and physical education, plus coached for the East Carter School District. She also has served as an adjunct professor for Central Methodist University for several years, and Three Rivers College for one. Starting her career in education in 2001, she filled multiple supervisor and director positions at SCMCAA Head Start. She earned her master’s degree in education administration from William Woods University in Fulton.
“Missy cares about her kids and is a worker,” PBHS Principal Mike Owen (above) summarized. She “worries about the welfare of each one of them” and wants them to have “practical skills after graduation,” aligning with colleagues her curriculum in basic and advanced foods classes, along with baking and pastries. Cox is highly active in her community of Ellsinore serving on numerous committees. As an eighth grade student, she met with the superintendent to start a high school softball team, Owen shared. The superintendent responded that she needed to recruit 19 players, and the following year a softball program was founded at East Carter.
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Hilary Taylor (above, left) was named the Junior High and Middle School Grade-Span TOY. She has worked at PBJHS since 2017, presently teaching speech/drama, game design, gifted and talented, and credit recovery, and previously taught eighth grade English and robotics. She was an Oak Grove faculty member over grade three for a decade prior, and taught one year of kindergarten and another – second grade at Sacred Heart Catholic School, beginning in 2005. She earned her master’s in education and a second degree with an emphasis on the gifted, talented and creative at Central Methodist University in Fayette.
“Hilary is a jack of all trades” who “can and does do it all,” said Candace Warren (above, right), PBJHS principal. She is a “well-rounded teacher” and a “person who makes it happen,” continued Warren, noting that Taylor has written several successful grants to improve the learning environment for her students, most recently acquiring a GlowForge 3D laser printer.
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Christine Walker (pictured above during the Chamber TOY Banquet) was named the Oak Grove and Elementary Grade-Span TOY. She has been teaching at the elementary school since 2014. She earned her master’s in educational psychology with a concentration in positive coaching from the University of Missouri at Columbia.
“She completes all tasks with a positive attitude and is a true reflection of a team player,” said Jenifer Richardson, Oak Grove principal. Willing to “do whatever it takes” to ensure building-wide success, Walker is “invested in the students both academically and emotionally.” Her “demeanor is one that is indicative of encouragement and kindness,” Richardson went on.
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Steve Layman (above, left) was named the Technical Career Center TOY. He has served as automotive service technology instructor since 2019, before which he was employed as service manager at Raben Tire for over a decade. Since 1989, he has worked as an auto technician, store manager and service manager for dealerships and service companies in Minnesota. He earned his bachelor’s in applied management from National College in Saint Paul and has been an Automotive Service Excellence master certified technician for nearly three decades.
Layman has had a vision to turn the auto tech program into a “mini-shop,” according to TCC Director Charles Kinsey (above, right), noting that the instructor has succeeded in increasing the number of automobiles that students service on a weekly basis. "If you want somebody to fill a role with a smile, it's Steve Layman," Kinsey said. As an aside, the director shared that Layman has helped foster 15 children: “to get a glimpse of the kind of person he is.”
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Donna Tribble (above) was named the Mark Twain TOY. She has served as the lead at-risk Junior High teacher at the alternative school since 2020, before which she was a special education teacher for a decade at Eugene Field. Her tenure in Poplar Bluff began in 2006 at Oak Grove, where she was also named building TOY. Since 1991, she has worked as a SPED teacher in schools in Texas and Arkansas. She earned her bachelor’s in education from the University of Texas at El Paso.
Tribble is a “connector” and a “doer;” she is “full of great advice and wisdom;” and shows “loyalty and humility,” Mark Twain Principal Aaron Burton (above) variously stated. “Donna is definitely the engine keeping the humor high at Mark Twain,” he added, noting that when entering Tribble’s classroom, “you’re gonna find her sitting by a kid.”
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Taytem Lorenzana (above) was named the Middle School TOY. She began teaching fifth and sixth grade English and social studies at the Middle School beginning in 2018. Having recently earned her master’s in school counseling from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, she will serve as Middle School counselor for the 2022/23 school year.
Lorenzana makes “learning relatable and fun, engaging students from the moment they walk in,” said Dr. Josh Teeter (above), Middle School principal. He talked about how Lorenzana helped open a Giving Closet at the Middle School and it “looks like a Gap: highly organized. …It shows her true qualities as a leader.”
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Alecia Bacon (above, left) was named the O’Neal TOY. She began teaching first grade at the elementary school in 2016, after serving as a paraprofessional over the TRUST class for four years. Her first experience in education was as a classroom aide of 4-year-olds in the summer of 2009. She earned her bachelor’s in elementary education from Hannibal-LaGrange University.
“She is a good friend to our school” always remaining “committed to making sure kids have everything they need,” said Dr. Amy Dill (above, right), O’Neal principal. She shared how Bacon never fails to participate alongside students on theme days, maintaining a "positive classroom culture." Dill added that she started at the same time as Bacon and "immediately hit it off,” sharing a similar sense of humor.
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Hannah Tooman (above, left) was named the Lake Road TOY. Tooman has been teaching fifth grade at the elementary school since 2019, upon gaining student teaching experience at Jackson Middle School earlier in the year. She earned her bachelor’s in elementary education from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau.
Tooman has a “passion for teaching” and “reaching every child,” said Rondi Vaughn (above, right), Lake Road principal. “She is that one” who puts “other needs before her own” and is a “natural at her craft.”
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Michelle Adams (above, left) was named the Eugene Field TOY. Adams has been teaching first grade at the elementary school since 2012. She earned her master’s in education with a literacy emphasis from Hannibal-LaGrange University.
“She has the perfect combination of patience, compassion and humility,” said Jennifer Taylor (above, right), Eugene Field principal. Taylor talked about all of the activities Adams engages in, such as the Adopt-A-Cow program or recreating the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, plus getting students involved in community service. She “extends her teaching far beyond our walls,” Taylor stated.
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Jennifer Cheek (above, left) was named the Kindergarten Center TOY. She has taught kindergarten since 2012, before which she served as a first grade teacher in Poplar Bluff for two years. Cheek’s tenure in public education began in 2001, as an early childhood teacher for the Doniphan School District. She earned her master’s in education from Hannibal-LaGrange University.
“She’s not somebody you’re gonna see putting herself [out there] on Facebook. She is one that does all of her awesomeness extremely private,” said Jessica Thurston (above, right), Kindergarten Center principal. “She smiles through the challenges,” “asks questions if she doesn’t know” and “laughs at herself.”
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Sharon Burkey (above, left) was named the Early Childhood Center TOY. She has worked as a speech-language pathologist for Poplar Bluff Schools since 2003. Her career started a year prior, with the Greenville School District. She earned her master's in communication disorders from Southeast Missouri State University.
“Sharon is always engaged and active in whatever she’s doing. She’s a true team player in every aspect of her job,” said JoAnne Westbrook (above, right), ECH principal. “Sharon always has a smile on her face,” “never gets rattled – in any situation she is just calm,” and “has the heart of a servant.”
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A total of 19 certified and classified staff members including one administrator were honored at the annual Retirement Reception on Tuesday, May 3, at the Westwood Center. Congratulations to all on a career well done! You will be missed dearly…
Above: (From left) Pam Heaton of Eugene Field, Jenifer Richardson of Oak Grove, Jackie Gilberto of Eugene Field, Joe Miller of the Maintenance Department, Debbie Allen of Special Services, Pat Carda of O’Neal/Oak Grove, Freida McKlintic of PBHS, Angela Bost of O’Neal, Owen Heath of Maintenance, Annette Wells of O’Neal, Kim Geringer of Instructional Technology and Mary Barousse of the Kindergarten Center. Not present were: Tennessee Dazey of the Middle School, Deanne Faraone of the Middle School, Ron Freeman of Eugene Field, Ron Sciacca of IT, Janet Strickland of PBHS, and Dona Tilley of PBHS.
Click here to leave a message for our retirees!
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Kinder Celebrations
End-of-the-year celebrations for the Kindergarten Center will take place from Monday through Wednesday, May 23-25, on the Camp Road campus.
Graduation
Commencement for the PBHS Class of 2022 is slated to take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 26, in the Black River Coliseum. The ceremony will also be streamed by the PBHS multimedia class via its Mules Media YouTube page.
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On Tuesday, May 3, KWOC reported about our Middle School students singing the National Anthem at a St. Louis Cardinals Baseball game for the 23rd year.
On Wednesday, May 4, the DAR reported about our PBHS Athletic Letter Banquet for Special Olympics.
On Thursday, May 5, the DAR reported about Lauren Webb of PBHS signing a National Letter of Intent to play softball for North Arkansas College.
On Friday, May 6, the ShowMe Times reported about Food Service Director Dixie Harden’s Homegrown Hero award.
On Saturday, May 7, the DAR reported about our American Red Cross scholarship recipients.
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