Congratulations to Allison King (McBrayer teacher) on the birth of her 2nd daughter, Annalise, on June 13 at 10:18 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20 ¼ in. long. I am sure that little Ava is excited to have her new baby sister home.
I have always said (from experience) that the high school principal job is one of the most demanding (if not THE MOST demanding) jobs in the district. Congratulations to Dr. Ray Ginter on being unanimously selected to his new post at RCSHS. I was very impressed with how well the site-based council worked together to reach their decision.
On June 12 Connie Kibbey (RCSHS librarian) was a presenter at the School Librarians Symposium at MSU. She presented book talks on the 10 books for grades 9-12 nominated for the Kentucky Bluegrass Award for 2014.
As her last hoorah, Sharon Brush (transportation) submitted 3 nominees to KAPT for their summer conference. They were for Bus Driver, Driver Trainer, and Head Mechanic of the Year. Needless to say, we were very excited for Billy Wages who was selected as Head Mechanic of the Year and was recognized at their conference in Bowling Green on June 11. What an honor for Billy who is going on 27 years with our Rowan County Schools transportation department! He has worked with 3 superintendents and 6 transportation directors. Billy is dedicated to his job of taking care of the equipment and keeping everything going. We have a fleet of 63 buses and several board vehicles that have to be inspected monthly and kept up to state standards. Billy is a rare breed and works hard to save every penny he can for the board; he says that is part of his job description. We have 46 routes, we drive 3,000 miles per day, and we pick up and deliver approximately 2,500 students per day. Billy is on call 24/7, and he has never let us down. We want him to know just how much he is appreciated, and what better way to do that than let everyone know what a talented and accomplished person he is and what an honor it is to work with him. He received a wonderful plaque and a $500 check from KAPT. Way to go, Bill, congratulations!!!
The Distinguished Young Women Committee (that we still call Junior Miss) has had a busy few weeks, but their hard work paid off in a big way this past weekend! On Sunday our board room welcomed back 21 of the past 49 Rowan County Junior Miss winners; and I understand they enjoyed a nice dinner, but more importantly, a wonderful evening of fellowship and “catching up”. Karis Keller Carl (1965), Kathy Orciere Litton (1966), Patty Roark Brown (1967), Sheryl Binion Wilson (1969), Cathy Cassady Corbin (1973), Leslie Engelhardt Levey (1974), Rhonda Barker Green (1977), Kelly Brumagen Bradley (1979), Cheryl Pollitte McBrayer (1981), Jeannie Utterback Blair (1985), Karyn Sprague McKenzie (1986), Kimberley Reeder (1987), Melinda Brown Fox (1993), Sarah Lewis Noel (1997), Virginia Weaver Schutte (2003), Alice Weaver (2007 also Rowan County’s only Kentucky Junior Miss), Rachael Fannin-Ryster (2008), Susan Ahmadi (2009), Carrie Newcomb (2011), Elisabeth Riddle (2012), and Shelby Adams (2013) shared stories of their experiences at the state program, where their careers have taken them, what their families are all doing now, and how the Junior Miss Scholarship program gave them a springboard to each of their successful careers. Last year’s Bath County winner, Casey Donohew, and Fleming County winner, Farah Weaver, were invited back to share in the fun as well.
At the program on Monday evening, these ladies were also joined by Leslie McBrayer Wells (1982) and Kelly Modaff (2010). Of course, the committee in their “workaholic fashion” put several of these returning celebrities to work either judging, emceeing, tabulating, taking tickets, or performing. Somehow I don’t think they really minded and actually seemed to enjoy it! The Rowan County program began in 1964 as a project by the Jaycees and 4 of these original members—Robert Hall, Art Litton, Budd Stidom, and Ted Trent—were on hand to celebrate along with 5 of the Class of 1964 participants, Darlene Fraley Adkins, Janie Rather Baldridge, Karis Keller Carl, Kay Martin Ellington, and Barbara Abner Marsh.
In 1986 the program was turned over to the Morehead Woman’s Club who continues to sponsor the program today. Thanks to the wonderful community businesses, individual donations, and contributions from these “Forget Me Nots”, the Rowan County program has awarded tens of thousands of dollars in scholarship money to our senior girls. Everyone knows that their donations go directly to the class of participants in the year that they donate. Ginny Laux (Clearfield Title I teacher), a former Tennessee Junior Miss herself, has served as Chairperson for 11 years now. She along with Rhonda Banks, Patty Brown, Genny Jenkins, Billie Johnson, Lindsay Johnson, Lucy Moore, Tina Northcutt, April Ratliff, Susette Redwine, Renee Smith, and I’m sure others I don’t even know about spend countless hours volunteering to make this experience for our senior girls one they will always remember fondly. Each year’s participants are the beneficiaries of their efforts, and this year they awarded $13,000 in scholarship money.
Although there is a state at-large program, these ladies expanded their reach 4 years ago and invited to join them our neighboring counties that have no program. Since that time we have included participants from Bath, Carter, and Fleming Counties. Those counties are responsible for coming up with their own franchise fee and the scholarship money that will be awarded to those counties. Because of this, these girls have the opportunity to experience the fun of all the ongoing activities up to and including the program, rather than just a short one-day event at the at-large program.
Just in case you haven’t figured out just how “big a deal” this year’s program was, let me tell you about another special guest that was in the audience. Doris Ford served as the Chair of KY Junior Miss from 1965 - 1981, then served the following 15 years as an America's Junior Miss Regional Coordinator for the states of KY, VA. W V, Ohio, IN, and NC. After working with the Junior Miss program for OVER 50 years, Mrs. Ford still serves as an ACTIVE (not just honorary) member of the Distinguished Young Women of KY Board of Directors. Other state and local program dignitaries that came to celebrate were Buddy Hoskinson (Past KY State Director), Peggy Barnes, Judy Derrickson, and Mary Alice Oldfield to name a few. Donna Fuller, Clark County Chairperson, brought their 2013 and 2014 winners, Haley Tye and Kaeton Crosby, along with their Moms to the program.
Congratulations to Alexandria Northcutt who will be representing Rowan County at the Kentucky Distinguished Young Women program in January in Lexington. I know that she will represent us well. If you have not already done so, I hope you will go back to Friday’s paper and look over the names of the other 15 girls who also received scholarship money on Monday evening. However, I want to add that anyone who can present themselves in the poised and dignified manner that these 25 young ladies did on Monday evening is a winner! I have attended these programs for over 30 years now, and the 50th celebration was surely a WINNER!
Our RCMS and RCSHS speech students that have advanced to Nationals have been practicing all week in preparation to make their prestigious trip. They will leave on Sunday headed for Birmingham, Alabama. Stay tuned to next week’s Review for results of their trip.
Relationship Builders
In addition to the MANY great supporters of our Junior Miss Scholarship program, there are always those that come through right about the time panic begins to set in as each last minute crisis arises. Those folks are Lucy Moore’s “Relationship Builders” this week as they helped solve each potential catastrophe in record time. Many thanks go to Charlie Adkins (RCMS maintenance), Genny Jenkins (gifted), Joyce Mabry (Title I), Bill Redwine (MSU Assistant Vice President for Auxiliary Services & Board Chair), Mike Segal (MSU Athletic Media Relations Director), Renee Smith (health services), Angela Traver (Rowan County Arts Center), Willard Wages (maintenance), and Tracy Williams (Chamber of Commerce Director). She says your kindness was instrumental in helping make the 50th Anniversary program a true celebration, and this is just one of the many reasons she has never wanted to leave her “Home Sweet Home”!
Larry Tapp (Tilden Hogge principal) says his “Relationship Builders” for this week are Karen Arthur, Judy Brewer, Brenda Gilkison, Agnes Tapp, and Mary Thompson. They are the THE summer cleaning crew and are doing a great job getting the building ready. They have been hard at it since the end of May, and the building inside is really beginning to look great.
My “Relationship Builders” go to the members of the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 RCSHS Site-Based Council—Mike Alderman, Brandy Carver, Brad Hart, Krista Hayslip, Trip Holbrook, and Misty Litton—along with John Maxey (assistant superintendent) who helped me chair this committee. As I said to them, “Choosing your principal will probably be the most important decision you make this year.” They were all very conscientious and poured over the applications before making their selection.