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GUTHRIE PRESENTS STUDENTS WITH THIRD PLACE OVERALL APP WINNERS

Rep. Brett Guthrie presented certificates Tuesday to the team of four recent Daviess County Public Schools graduates who won third place overall in the 2021 Congressional App Challenge. The team includes Alli Burgan (Daviess County High School) along with Kyla Thomson, Matisse Dalton and Braxton Powers (Apollo High School). Each member contributed to different factors of the app from the graphic design to the audio.

Their app, Vocal, aids in verbal communication whether it be because of a speech impediment, speech disorders or language barriers.

The app uses augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), and the developers said they addressed things other AAC apps lack. They said that some apps don’t allow the user to customize with personalized pictures or audio recordings.

“Many also lack diversity of words, making them impractical for daily use, and the ones that do contain a diverse word choice typically have choppy, robotic voices that are hard to understand,” Thomson said.

The app was developed with Android Studio and will be published to the Google Play store.

#NOMOREBOXES CAMPAIGN TELLS POSITIVE MESSAGE OF SUBSTANCEFREE YOUTH

“I am more than the box you put me in.” That’s the powerful first line of the new #NoMoreBoxes campaign video featuring area high school students. The campaign that launched today is an effort to send a positive message about area youth who choose to be substance-free, rather than focusing on the small percentage affected by substance abuse.

The campaign was created by RiverValley Behavioral Health’s Regional Prevention Center after they surveyed area middle- and high-school-age students over the last year, largely focusing on drug and alcohol use — or the lack thereof. Research was conducted in cooperation with the Kentucky Incentives for Prevention.

The survey was conducted in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 across the state in the fall of 2021. As is detailed in the campaign video, statistics showed that the majority of students were substance-free:

60.5% have never vaped 79% don’t regularly drink alcoholic beverages 75.5% have never used marijuana 78.5% have never smoked a cigarette 98% have never abused prescription drugs

The campaign is dedicated to telling the positive story of those youth rather than reinforcing many of the negative stereotypes that have become prevalent.

GCA ADDING PRESCHOOL, KINDERGARTEN; HIGH SCHOOL NOW INCLUDES GRADES 9-11

Grace Christian Academy is again growing their number of high school students by now offering classes in grades 9-11. In addition, this year GCA is also adding a preschool and kindergarten program. GCA opened in 2020 and for 2 years has educated high school students using a faith-based curriculum and a Christian worldview. This year the high school will serve freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. Eshaal Pirzada, a fourth grader at Tamarack Elementary School, is always willing to help fellow classmates and is eager to gain new knowledge. Eshaal participated in Daviess County Public School's Camp Curiosity during summer break. Camp Curiosity is an exciting summer education opportunity for English Language Learners in grades K-8 in our community. Shelly Hammons, administrator for the DCPS English Learner Summer Program, said "Eshaal always had a curiosity for each lesson and was consistently lending a hand in class!"

Incoming juniors Luke Wellman and Gunny Howard of Owensboro Innovation Academy’s Cybersecurity recently placed 15th out of 65 teams in the National Technology Student Association competition in Dallas, Texas. Luke and Gunny said the competitions were capture-theflag-based matches. Prior to nationals, they placed first in the state competition. While 15th in the nation was a feat, both think going into their junior season, they can accomplish much higher. “We could see the teams that were higher than us were juniors and seniors,” Gunny said. “There’s definitely a lot of room for improvement that we could have. It’s definitely apparent that we might be able to get top 10, maybe even top three.”