March 10, 2022 Vol. 22, No. 43
In This Issue FOUR SEASONS
Santa Fe holds DWDW
Four Seasons, by Kevin Box, in real life is located in front of the Center for Transformative Learning on the UCO campus, but this week is hidden somewhere in our paper. Email contest@edmondpaper.com with the correct location to be entered in the weekly drawing. For more information, see page 4.
EPS Foundation honors top employees See page 13
FRIDAY, March 11 AM Snow Showers High 40° Low 16°
SATURDAY, March 12 Sunny High 51° Low 33°
SUNDAY, March 13 Sunny High 69° Low 44°
PHOTOS BY MELINDA INFANTE
Bulk of funds goes toward helping children experiencing homelessness Edmond Santa Fe High School concluded its DWDW (Double Wolf Dare Week) campaign raised $213, 285 for Positive Tomorrows. Positive Tomorrows is Oklahoma’s only social services agency specifically for children and families experiencing homelessness. The money raised will help the organization build a middle school. It currently has an elementary school. Positive Tomorrows. The group is on a mission to partner with homeless families to educate their children and create pathways to success. They help lead the charge in developing a comprehensive educational system built to bring students up to grade level academically and socially, so they can successfully rejoin the public school system. Here are three ways Positive Tomorrows accomplishes that mission. Transportation. Every day, our students know they can call in with their
location, and our bus driver will come get them. For families with limited access to transportation, just getting a child to school can feel like an insurmountable challenge. The commitment to the students begins with helping them get to their classroom. Hunger. We’ve all been there. That last class or meeting right before lunch when everyone’s hungry, and it’s impossible to focus on the tasks at hand. For a homeless student, though, this feeling might not be limited to that pre-lunch period. Each of the students qualifies for free meals. Making sure those meals are nutritious and filling helps the students focus their energies on learning, not on worrying about whether they’ll get to eat. Basic Needs. For most kids, it can be hard to focus on learning math when you’re anxious for gym class. For a homeless child, the challenge is different due to the lack of basic
needs. Many homeless children don’t have tennis shoes for gym class, for example. This lack of basic necess. ities can create worry and anxiety for our students, leaving them with little energy to give to their education. The group clears that hurdle by keeping a supply of those basic needs “ clothing, shoes, toiletries, etc. “ at the ready. Five percent of the money raised during all three spring high school fundraising weeks benefits a single common thread. This year’s recipient is Limbs for Life. That is global nonprofit organization dedicated to providing fully-functional prosthetic care for individuals who cannot otherwise afford it and raising awareness of the challenges facing amputees. Two weeks ago North held its annual fundraiser. This Friday, the season of giving ends with Swine Week concluding at Memorial High School.