Education

4 advance to Speech and Debate State
Results from Cassville High School's Speech and Debate District tournament in Carthage have been released.

Award-winning Wildcat Jazz Band performs at Jazz Night
The Cassville School District Jazz Bands, under the direction of Micah Boise and Kelli Pavlu, took the stage to perform at the 7th annual Jazz Night, Sweets and Treats, on Feb. 22.

CHS Beta Club members go to state competition
National Beta members from Cassville High School are celebrating their recent participation in the Missouri Senior Beta Convention. This is the inaugural year of Cassville Senior Beta Club, and the first competitive event for its members.

Purdy FBLA Qualifies 18 for State Leadership Conference
On Feb. 6, the Purdy chapter of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) traveled to the annual FBLA District 5 Leadership Conference. Out of 34 student competitors, Purdy had a record 31 students place in the top 10 in 45 different events.

CMS 8th-graders are the next Sharks!
Cassville middle schoolers had the opportunity to give their Shark Tank ideas a shot when they attended the FBLA 8th Grade Entrepreneurship Day. Cassville high school FBLA members organized a full day of entrepreneurial ideas and activities for the eighth-graders, then held a competition among eighth-grade tables for a chance at prizes. Students had a lot of fun, and some amazing ideas were invented. Winners received prizes in both content and commercial categories.

100+ words spelled in Purdy
The Purdy Spelling Bee was held on Jan. 26. Nine contestants from grades 4-6 competed. The winner was Paul Bawithawng, a fourth-grader. The runner up was Solomon Thang, also a fourth-grader. The winner spelled “multitude’ and then “journey” to win the competition. It was a very competitive match with over 100 words used during the entirety of the Spelling Bee.

Purdy FBLA raises $1,350 for employee battling breast cancer
The Purdy High School Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter, in conjunction with the Purdy High School Volleyball Team, raised $1,350 in their annual October Pink Out fundraising effort. Funds were raised from T-shirt and cake pop sales, a hat day, volleyball raffle and a serving contest at the Pink Out Volleyball Game.
Ag Education is ‘On The Move’ at Southwest
Elementary students to learn about farming, livestock, more Missouri Farmers Care Foundation’s Agriculture Education on the Move (AEOTM) is excited to announce a partnership this fall with the Southwest FFA Chapter to educate third grade students about agriculture. AEOTM, a program of the Missouri Farmers Care Foundation, is a proactive, educational effort in which passionate, trained educators spend time in the classroom helping elementary students build agricultural literacy.

FFA Greenhands attend conference
The Cassville FFA Chapter had 32 Greenhands attend the Area 11 Greenhand conference at Crowder College in Neosho on Sept. 12. The attendees learned the importance of agriculture and FFA. They learned leadership opportunities, supervised agricultural experiences (SAE), and the FFA organization. A total of 528 Greenhands from around the area attended this conference to grow as ag students and to help the ag programs around Area 11 flourish. Freshmen Roper Taylor and Bradyn Alley both agreed they learned a lot about SAE’s. Roper also stated that he realized he already had multiple things that fit into the SAE part of FFA.

Wheaton senior gets Soroptimist scholarship
The Soroptimist Club of Barry County has selected Zoey Martel as the recipient of the 2023 Violet Richardson Scholarship. Martel is a graduate of Wheaton High School. She plans to study nursing at the College of the Ozarks. The Violet Richardson Scholarship is awarded annually to a senior woman in Barry County that serves as community volunteer. Martel volunteers at her church, for local food drives and blood drives, sold drinks for the fire department fundraiser BBQ event, raised money for the Power of Pink Breast Cancer Drive, picked up trash and served meals to elderly community members. The mission of the Soroptimist Club of Barry County is to improve the lives of women and girls in the local community. From left: Laura Holycross, Soroptimist member; Martel; and Allison Angel, Soroptimist member.