Celebrating Teachers

The American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) Unit #81 in El Dorado first delivered apples to teachers in February for Valentine’s Day but were only able to take them to the elementary schools due to the winter storm.

This past week they were able to finish their mission of delivering apples to all the teachers in the El Dorado school district when they took apples to El Dorado Middle School and El Dorado High School.

EHS Principal Bruce Lolling, center, with apples for the teachers from American Legion Auxiliary members Karen Hasting, left, and Virginia Ball, right.

“We know they have had a rough year, so we wanted to let them know that we appreciate them,” said Karen Hasting, member of the ALA Unit #81.

Margie Jordan and Kristy Bieberle hold the apples brought to EMS by American legion Auxiliary members Karen Hasting, left and Virginia Ball, right.

Each basket was filled with gala apples, one for every teacher at each school, and attached to each apple was a note that said “You are the apple of our eye.”

The ALA Unit meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 5:00 p.m. at the American Legion George Ball Bingo Hall in El Dorado. All members are encouraged to attend as well as those wishing to learn more about the organization.

The American Legion Auxiliary is an organization of male and female spouses, grandmothers, mothers, sisters, and direct and adopted female descendants of members of The American Legion. Some are also veterans.

Butler County Spelling Bee

The Welcome Center at Butler Community College was abuzz with nervous excitement as the large meeting room filled with students, parents, teachers, and administrators representing 28 schools from across Butler County.

Each student was selected as a representative to the Butler County Spelling Bee after winning their school-wide Spelling Bee.

First up was a practice round which gave the spellers an opportunity to calm their nerves and let parents take photos before the competition officially began.  Students were allowed a piece of paper and writing instrument in order to spell check the old-fashioned way. Upon successfully spelling a word, a student would hear “Right!”  When a word was spelled incorrectly, a bell would ring alerting the student to leave the competition floor and take a seat in the audience with their parent or teacher.

Calculus. Cooperage. Guava. Suffocate. Hibiscus

Words were pronounced, parts of speech and etymology were given, as well as a definition, and the word was used in a sentence if the student requested.  

After an hour, three rounds of spelling words and a brief intermission, less than a dozen students remained in the contest.    Cliques, accompany, apprehend, barbarous, rivulets, haberdashery, and portentously were some of the words spelled incorrectly.

As the rounds continued, the words increased in difficulty.  

Pegasi. Catacombs. Munificent. Eviscerated. Ambuscade. Balaclavas. Millefeuille. Phaeton. Marengo. Homonym. Seersucker.

By the eighth round, three spellers remained, #3, Jeremiah Rather, #9, Grace Schmidt and #13, Kareena Bhaktn.   All three spelled their words correctly until the eleventh round when Grace Schmidt of Circle Middle School misspelled “stipple” and was awarded Second Runner-Up.

Nine more rounds of correctly spelled words. Then, in the twenty-first round, Kareena Bhaktn, El Dorado Middle School student misspelled “wainscot” and opening the door for Jeremiah Rather to win the Spelling Bee with the correct spelling of “poinsettia.”  Kareena was awarded First Runner-Up

Jeremiah said he practiced spelling every night for 20 minutes.  He will represent Butler County at the Sunflower Spelling Bee on March 9 at Newman University. The Sunflower Spelling Bee is hosted by The Kansas Press Association. The winner of the Sunflower Spelling Bee qualifies for participation in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

This was the eleventh year for Butler Community College to sponsor the county-wide spelling bee that is conducted by library services at Butler Community College.

 

YMCA After School Program

The YMCA, USD 490 and Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital have partnered to offer a free after school program for all El Dorado Middle School students. The Program held it’s kick-off bowling party for the new school year.  Grizzly Bowl was host to the party on Saturday, September 8th. But it’s not too late to join the fun.

Membership to the YMCA is not required.  It is free to all EMS students but parents are required to fIll out an online form to register, which provides for consent.

According to Alison Oelfke, Youth Program Director, it focuses on “things from healthy eating, stress management to [a variety of] game situations to get them active to learn a little more about their health.”

The program developed out of a need for after school activities. Other than intramural sports, there were not a lot of options for the sixth graders, who tend to make the up the majority of those who attend the program.

A partnership with USD490 provides transportation to the YMCA after school, and if desired, transportation back to a community bus drop off location after the program.  

The program operates on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the YMCA after school until 5:30p. On Tuesday, the focus is on “Club Time” for individual development and Thursday’s focus is on group activities which are designed to develop teamwork and good sportsmanship.  For more information call the El Dorado YMCA at 316-320-9622.