Vicksburg has much to be proud of this week when it comes to the educational opportunities for its children.
The Vicksburg Warren School District is up by 330 students this year, and because growing pains need to be addressed, the school board is seeking input from the community and has authorized a request for qualifications — an RFQ — for organizing community outreach.
“We do a list of qualifications that we are looking for to help us with a project. We put it out, and any company that meets those qualifications and wants to submit a proposal to service us in those areas is what that is,” Shaquita Burke, director of financial operations at VWSD, said.
“We’re asking for qualifications for somebody to come in to be able to do community outreaches and do specs on what the community wants to see as far as growth and building improvements.”
With some aging infrastructures and the growing number of students that are enrolled with the VWSD, school board member Bryan Pratt said if the board is going to address the issues, the board wants to find out what the community wants, and find out what their options are.
Students at the Vicksburg Catholic School had a busy week as they celebrated Catholic School Week.
As part of their weeklong events, the school reached out in service to the community and held events that included a food drive and walk-a-thon to benefit the Salvation Army, a “baby shower” for the Center for Pregnancy Choices, a mural was created for the Warren County Children’s Shelter and Valentine’s Day cards were made for nursing home residents.
Also this week, longtime educator and Vicksburg resident Leila Werlein Stone celebrated her 100 birthday on Wednesday.
Stone taught Latin and English at All Saints Episcopal School in Vicksburg for many years, her daughter, Sheila said, and was also a Sunday School teacher for many years at First Presbyterian Church and Westminster Presbyterian Church.
After Leila’s retirement from All Saints, she spent two years filling in as a Latin teacher in the Vicksburg Warren School District, and then spent two years teaching voluntarily at St. Aloysius High School.
Stone quit teaching for a while, but restarted her career teaching at Vicksburg High School and eventually at Chamberlain-Hunt Academy.
More positives in Vicksburg this week:
4On Thursday, Vincent Dang, a fourth grade student at Beechwood Elementary School became the champion of the 2017 Vicksburg Warren School District Spelling Bee. For six rounds, 11 students competed to find the best speller in the Vicksburg Warren School District until it came down to the final two contestants and the word “boulevards.”