April 27, 2022 Issue, Page 1 of 12

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y ¢ y ] y Serving @ r4 ; Western Oklahoma BN RY La Since ve 1901 Wednesday, April 27, 202 Weekday Edition Elk City’s FOP and WTC programs Unite for a Community Project oe Superintendent Mike Sparks gives Kathleen Jung her award for being named Teacher of the Year. Courtesy ses ‘The individuals who came together to make the Community photo. Courtesy photo. Box happen were from two campuses of WTC and the ECPD members of the FOP, Pictured from left are Chris Carpenter, instructor of auto body and collision from Burns Flat, Lt. De- Jung Honored as ECPS tective Sammy Weygand, WTC Sayre welding students from Merritt High school Coy Carnes and Sean Thomas, WTC Sayre District Teacher ofthe Year Principal Dee Wilhelm, WTC Burns Flat auto body students Dylan Fox, Cordell, and Silvia Pinedo, adult student, WTC During professional development day on Friday, April Business Director Danny Britton, Wyatt Anderson, SRO and FoP Vice-President Greg Chaney, WTC Superintendent Kathe 22nd, Superintendent Mike Sparks announced the district's Corning, FOP Sargent at Arms Lt. Nick Crauthers, FOB Presi- Teacher of the Year as Elk City’s Elementary music teacher, dent Corporal Jason Harris, ECPD Chief Eddie Holland, and Kathleen Jung. Jeff Olson.; At right, The partnership between the FOP and In the district’s Facebook post, announcing Jung as their WTC made the community box happen, those two responsible ‘TOY, she was described as the choir director of Honor Choir, for the connection are Lt Detective Sammy Weygand and WTC Lt. Detective Sammy Weygand reached out to WTC’s Business comprised of a group of selected third graders. They put on sev- Business Director Danny Britton. Courtesy photos by Sheryl Ponce. Director Danny Britton to see if he could help with the project, eral performances throughout the year. She teaches all grade and Britton went to work. He contacted Dee Wilhelm, Principal By Sheryl Ponce levels, PreK through third grade. of the WTC Sayre campus for the welding portion of the food box “Our students are very lucky to have Mrs. Jung as their and then Chris Carpenter on the WTC Burns Flat campus, auto teacher. Not one second goes by in her classroom that students Lodge 221 of the Elk City Fraternal Order of Police wanted body, program to paint the box. Everyone agreed to come togeth- are not learning, From the minute they enter her classroom, to give back to a community that supports them and as an or- er to make it happen. students are immersed with, not only music education, but ganization. They came up with the idea of putting a community “I don’t think these kids realize how big of a deal it is to this other subjects as well. They sing, dance, play instruments, read box outside of the police station. The box will be filled with non- community, and what it means for people that can't provide for music and literature, engage in games, and much more. Mrs. perishable food items, and anyone in the community may stop their families. Now they can do it without embarrassment or Jung exudes a passion for music and passes that love down to by to get what he or she needs, anything. So, I think this whole experience is great. I want to say her students,” the post said about her. What began as a idea, came to fruition Friday afternoon with thanks to anyone who helped at Western Technology. We talked She will go on to enter the Oklahoma Teacher of the Year the help of Western Technology's welding class on the Sayre about it and he (Britton) got right on it. This has been a work in contest. campus, the WTC auto body and collision class on the Burns Flat progress for three months,” Weygand said. Britton responded to his kind words, “When Sammy (Wey- campus and the business director, Danny Britton coordinating the efforts. gand) calls I respond. I think it’s a great way of showing industry Lieutenant Governor “It’s just something we wanted to do as an organization, be- partners working with the business and industry services that cause we truly do get a lot of support from the citizens of Elk connected with the full time programs. Making something like Pinnell Promotes Commerce City. As police officers, we are truly blessed to be able to work this is pretty special to the community, and there is no doubt here. In some of the bigger cities, you don’t see this kind of sup- about how many people we're going to serve. I think this box with Turkey Hunt sums up the partnerships we have with WTC and our industry port for police. We are truly thankful for that, and we wanted = to give back to to the community in some way,” Corporal Jason partners (FOP), along with our community.” Harris, president of the FOP said. See Community Box page 2. Merritt Co-Principals Bradshaw and Peffer Talk About Kids my 14th year as principal. I was vice-principal for two or three years prior to that,” he explained. ‘The biggest change he has seen over those years is the size of the school. They have grown from about 430 students to approxi- mately 850 students. “Well, there are lot of differences. People are coming in and we have so many more kids and a lot more teachers. We have added buildings and we are building a lot more,” he added. Bradshaw referred to Mrs. Peffer concerning the most chal- lenging part of the job, which he thinks is getting the schedules and classes arranged. He was definite about the best part of his Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell talks to the group job being the kids. gathered in the activity center for the 34th Annual Lieu- “The most challenging thing for them (the kids) is the inter- tenant Governor’s Turkey Hunt. Staff photo by Sheryl Ponce. net. It is not just the cell phones, but they have so much at their fingertips. And it is a good thing, too. They have so much infor- By Sheryl Ponce Don Bradshaw mation right there. If you are in a history class or something, and I tell them to look up battles in the Civil War, which I did that this ‘The City of Elk City had the opportunity to show off their morning, and five of them knew it,” Bradshaw said. new activity center by hosting the 34th Annual Lieutenant Gov- By Sheryl Ponce ‘The part that is hard for them is the temptation to take short- ernor’s Turkey Hunt Luncheon there Thursday afternoon. Al- cuts. He said that when some students are tasked with writing a though it was not finished, the facility's director Matthew Brad- In the Merritt High School, Don Bradshaw and Sarah Peffer paper or assignment, they may cut and paste it from the internet. shaw welcomed the hunters, local leaders, Lt. Governor Matt share the responsibility of taking care of students and teachers. ‘The students may not understand the difference between that Pinnell and his staff to join the Elk City Chamber of Commerce Each one shared their experiences about the job, along with their and their own words, making it too easy to use other people's for lunch provided by Blue Mountain Smoke. He encouraged work, them to take a tour of the center and explained the city’s vision hopes and dreams for their students. ‘This challenge has not made a huge difference in the student's for the facility. Bradshaw has 31 years of experience in education. He grew test results. Bradshaw said that they had good test scores on their After Bradshaw spoke, Lt. Governor stepped up to wel- up in Cheyenne and moved to McKinney, Texas when he was six- last benchmark tests. He was proud of how well they were doing come everyone to his event. He complemented City Manager years-old. Later he returned to Oklahoma, obtaining his teaching on their results. Tom Ivester on his leadership and Chamber Executive Director, degree and masters degree from SWOSU. “I taught history and I coached football for 12 years. I started See Merritt page 2. See Turkey page 2. Iummniugy = Weather Weather /63 Vol. 120, No. 35 75 cents, 12 pgs. Mail delivery 580.225.3000 View online elkcityoknews.com