Students and organizations were recognized for their accomplishments during a meeting last week of the Durant Board of Education.
Superintendent Mark Moring introduced HOSA, the first group to be recognized.
Instructor Blaklyn Geiger said HOSA once stood for Health Occupation Students of America but when the organization went international the name was changed to Future Hope Professionals while the HOSA name was kept.
It is an organization for anyone that is interested in being in a healthcare-related field. Geiger said the students studied all year long for their events and that they competed at Norman in April.
“We took 30 to state conference out of 85,” Geiger said. “These are the top 20 percent. So, out of the 30 that competed at the state level, we had 14 that qualified for our international leadership conference.
“They get to go compete this summer in Nashville against students from all across the United States, from China, from Honduras, from Puerto Rico, from Guam. So, they will be competing in their specific events from students all over the world.
“We also have several students in here that fall under Anatomage which is our 3-D cadaver lab that we have at the high school. We are taking 11 students right after school’s out on another trip to Las Vegas to compete at national level against Anatomage teams from all over the country as well.“ Coach Mike Dills introduced the powerlifting team and he spoke of their accomplishments.
“It’s not a sanctioned sport technically, but it is actually sanctioned by the Oklahoma Coaches Association,” Dills said. “I think this sport right here is the one sport that actually helps all of the other sports. It doesn’t matter if it’s football, if it’s basketball, if it’s baseball, if it’s wrestling. It’s one sport that can actually help the other sports if it’s done correctly.”
Dills named some of the different weight divisions.
“It’s kind of like wrestling,” Dills said. “There’s a slot for everyone that wants to powerlift and they’re actually competing against guys in their own weight. That’s what makes it really valuable for me and the other coaches I think because they can get stronger and the better they feel about themselves as they get stronger, it should help them. It’s going to help them in life. It’s the one thing that they can actually do all their lives and keep going if they want to.”
Dills said that El Reno probably should have won the recent meet with the boys.
“El Reno is who beat our girls, so I felt great for our boys to actually pay El Reno back and beat them at the state powerlifting meet,” Dills said.
Students who were state winners in the Mary Quisenberry DAR Junior American Citizens Contest were recognized. This was the fourth year to enter the contest and six students won with art projects and stories.
This was our fourth year to enter the contest and this year, I’m happy to announce we had six students who won at the state level. Art projects and stories.
The Durant High School Jazz Band received straight superior ratings at the OSSAA State Competition. Assistant band director Leslie Gregg said the jazz band is an auditioned group that meets after school two days per week. They compete against bands in the curriculum that meet every day and still do very well, receiving a rating of 1 at the competition.
“They have three judges and all three judges gave them a 1,” Mrs. Gregg said. “This is the highest rating that they have received in five years.
“Recently, we found out that The Pride, which consists of 137 students, has earned the distinguished OSSAA academic achievement award with overall GPA of 3.77. We’re pretty proud of that.”
Mrs. Gregg said the 8thgrade band competed and received 1 ratings and was named the outstanding varsity middle school band.
“The band staff would like to thank the school board and administration for their great support and they also thank you for all you do for our program,” Mrs. Gregg said.
Board members accepted the following resignations: Letha Trent, licensed professional counselor; Kristen Robinson, speech language pathologist at GW; Samantha Dimas, fourth-grade teacher at WI; Danielle Lewis, pre-kindergarten teacher assistant at REL, and Shauna Shelton, special education teacher assistant at WI.
The board approved employment of the following: Jena Jones, assistant principal at WI; Catherine Moring, certified school counselor at DHS; Thomas James, special education instructor at DHS; Alicia Clubb, fundamentals of technology teacher at DMS; Lisa Jones, third-grade teacher at NWH, transferring from WI; Laura Bull, speech pathologist at GW; Kelly Briley, special education teacher at WI; Elizabeth Lindley, fourth-grade teacher at WI; Shae Miller, second grade teacher at WI; Dawn Gandolfo, library assistant at WI; Cheyanna Coy, special education teacher assistant at WI; Brandi Wingfield and Brooke Roberts, special education teacher assistants for summer services, and Karen Green and Zoey Shelton, nurses for the summer enrichment program.
