Odessa schools continue to shine

 

Last updated 12/20/2017 at 4:59pm

--Courtesy photo.

School board member Heather Valverde, school superintendent Dan Read, school board member Carmen Weishaar and business teacher/FBLA advisor Terri King with the banner awarded to the school.

Odessa's schools celebrated a School of Distinction award on November 6, 2017 for sustained improvement in English Language Arts and Math over a five-year period. Odessa Jr./Sr. High School is one of 98 schools so honored by the Center for Educational Effectiveness and their partner organizations that have recognized schools across the state for continuous and substantive improvement.

Then on December 15, the Future Business Leaders of America chapter at Odessa High School received $2,500 through the Spokane Teachers Credit Union's Hundred Dollar Project, to benefit the Odessa Healthcare Foundation.

Students in grades six and up and members of the OHF board (Lecia Fink, Nancy Floether, Barbara Greenwalt, Danielle Scrupps, Jackie Johnston and Brenik Iverson) were on hand to witness awarding of the check to the contest winners.

The surprise check delivery occurred at 11:15 a.m. at Odessa High School. The event was a surprise for most students, most school staff and the healthcare foundation.

Using $100 in seed money from STCU, the Odessa students raised $1,051. They used that money for ingredients to make 553 freezer-ready meals during a cooking party over Thanksgiving break. (Ingredients were also donated.) Then, they delivered the meals to 43 Odessa residents.

For that effort, they were voted the overall winner in this year's Hundred Dollar Project. In addition, STCU awarded $1,500 to a second-place group and $1,000 to a third place group.

STCU's Hundred Dollar Project encourages teens to "start a movement, launch an innovation, brighten a life or change the world."

Earlier this year, over 20 teams of teens from Washington and Idaho submitted project ideas. Seventeen teams were selected as finalists and received $100 each to help with the work.

--Photo for The Record by Terrie Schmidt-Crosby.

Members of the high school's FBLA chapter and of the Odessa Healthcare Foundation board, plus representatives of STCU in Spokane were present in the school multipurpose room on Friday for awarding of STCU's check for $2,500.

All finalists were invited to report back with a video showing how they used the $100. From December 4-8, STCU invited social media followers to vote on which projects deserved the prize money. The three winners were selected based on a combination of judging, and online voting.

The Odessa students – all freshmen – used their $100 from STCU to buy the ingredients for 200 caramel apples, which they sold for a $951 profit. That money was used to buy the meal ingredients.

The video produced by the Odessa FBLA and other finalists in the contest can be seen at hundreddollarproject.org.

Founded by educators in 1934, STCU is a member-owned, not-for-profit cooperative with more than 172,000 members, $2.6 billion in total assets and 21 branch locations in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

 

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