April 29, 2020 Issue, Page 1 of 8

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UPDAT Monday now show Beck navirus, with two of those p ly had two cases. Serving Western Oklahoma Elk Clty native receives District’s backpack program honor from OSU By Don Munsch, Editor Bailey Bruner wants to enter the gets assist from community nursing profession one day and is with the delivery, but we were just a little short for filling keeping her options open as to which our bags.” particular part of the nursing field she Hamm said the program received what the Food Bank will pursue. could provide. She said the program had enough food when She will have a strong background it got its deliver for the first few weeks, but it’s this week and in a health field to help her once that the week of May 8 that the program was going to be short. decision is made. Hamm got in touch with some people in the community Bruner Bruner, of Elk City, is a senior at and asked for help. Oklahoma State University who has been named a 2020 “The response has been so great that we’re going to be Senior of Distinction by the Oklahoma State University good for the next two weeks,” she said. College of Human Sciences, the highest honor given to Elk City Rotary Club, churches and individuals donated graduating seniors by the college. to the program. A 2016 Elk City High School graduate, Bruner is sched- “As of right now, we have plenty,” she said Friday. In an uled to graduate from OSU this May with a degree in nu- email, a spokesman from the Food Bank explained how the tritional sciences and an option in allied health. She works program dispenses food in the backpack program but did not at University Health Services, is a member of four honor directly explain how the shortage occurred here. societies and mentors freshmen as a Human Sciences Am- The backpack program distributes food on Fridays for bassador, the university stated in a news release. the weekend. The child nutrition program at the elementary Regarding receiving the Senior of Distinction, Bruner school distributes food for every day of the week, but the told The News said she enjoyed seeing the hard work pay Elk City Elementary School counselor Kim backpack delivers food on Friday for the kids to have food off that she puts into the College of Human Sciences and Hamm loads the vehicle of ECHS teachers Ka- over the weekend, Hamm said. Children are referred to the specifically her major in nutritional sciences. She credits rie and Rick Dillinger for food delivery as part program, and they receive food every Friday throughout the those who gave her guidance, such as her mentors and of the backpack program. Photo submitted. school year. teachers, for pushing her to do her best in her classwork Children receive snack items or easy-open, non-perish- and organizations. By Don Munsch, Editor able food: oatmeal, peanut butter and crackers, canned meat, “This award was just kind of the payoff for all of that, When the backpack program in Elk City Public Schools canned vegetables and fruit. Hamm said about 200 children and I know I wouldn’t gotten this award if people hadn’t needed some food last week, the community stepped up. receive food in the program, and that translates that into [encouraged] me when I started my freshman year at Okla- Kim Hamm, a counselor at Elk City Elementary School, about 125 homes. Food is dropped off on porches every Fri- homa State,” she said. heads up the backpack program at the elementary school. day. After graduation, she wants to start nursing school at the But when the district went to distance learning in early Amanda Friesen, Elk City Elementary principal, said the OU Health Sciences Center in the accelerated Bachelor’s April, the entire district’s backpack program was combined school district’s child nutrition department, headed by Jacy of Science in Nursing program. into one operation, which Hamm oversees. Dyson, has been working hard to provide two meals a day The release said her extensive community service ranges from elementary student tutoring to Christmas toy drives “We receive a monthly delivery from the Food Bank and Monday through Friday. so we were really a little bit short,” Hamm said, referring “They’ve been relentless since this all started, and they and stems from her Greek and Student Council leadership to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. “I don’t know if really, really helped our community by feeding kids every positions. As a Freshman Research Scholar, Bruner’s re- search poster describing her study of dietary contributions that’s any fault of the food bank or something just happened day,” Friesen said. to osteoporosis earned the Human Sciences Undergraduate District Teacher of the Year Scholars Forum Faculty Choice Award. See Honor page 2. Tale of two economies committed to students’ well-being will determine post- By Don Munsch, Editor Leslie Kennedy wants students to ends of the earth to make sure they got what they needed.” She wants to show students that just because they may lockdown growth know she cares about them as much as an individual as much as she does their come from one particular socioeconomic background doesn’t mean they can’t move to another background and By Rich Miller and Michelle Jamrisko, Bloomberg News learning in her classroom. improve their lives. The most challenging aspect of teach- Kennedy, a third-grade teacher at ing is ensuring that teachers reach every student socially be- The restart of the world economy risks going ahead with- out a key ingredient: the consumer. Elk City Elementary School, teaches cause not everyone has the same support. all subjects at the school and said win- Love, kindness and compassion are attributes successful Getting companies to resume operations and factories to reopen is one thing. Persuading consumers to brave catch- q ning Elk City Public Schools’ Teacher teachers must possess, she said, adding that the most im- ing the coronavirus and go out to shop, eat, travel or watch Kennedy of the Year was “really shocking.” She portant function of her teaching is reaching kids on an emo- sports is another. didn’t expect school and district officials tional, loving, kindness and respect level. to show up at her house to inform her of the award. “T want them to learn academically, obviously, but I want “Nothing about reopening the economy will be easy, but restarting businesses will be more straightforward than A Sayre native, Kennedy received her associate’s degree them to go out and realize that you have the ability to go out from Southwestern Oklahoma State University-Sayre and and change somebody’s whole day just by one act of kind- restarting aggregate demand,” Moody’s Analytics Chief then received her bachelor’s degree in elementary educa- ness or respect or love or compassion for everybody around Economist Mark Zandi said. The result: An uneven reboot for the global economy, tion from SWOSU in Weatheford. She is in her 10th year of you. Because we all are going to need that some day, at some with manufacturing and the nations dependent on it bounc- teaching, with all of those years spent in Elk City. point, and I want them to leave my classroom knowing that She explained she wanted to be a teacher from an early that’s the most important to me,” she said. ing back fairly quickly, while more communal service-sec- age. The end of the school year has made this the hardest year tor activities and countries lag. That will keep pressure on governments and central banks “I grew up in Sayre, and I had some really great teach- for her because of distance learning being implemented in ers,” she said. “I knew from kindergarten that that’s what I light of the pandemic. to continue their support as their economies claw their way wanted to do. I just knew that I wanted to do that and I just “There’s been lots of tears,” she said, adding said she en- back from the deepest worldwide downturn since the Great wanted to help kids.” sures students when she sees them twice a week on the com- Depression. She describes her teaching style as one in which she will puter that she loves and misses them. She loves the stories Policy makers from the Bank of Japan, the Federal Re- try to relate a lesson to some aspect of her life. she is receiving from them and is also receiving videos from serve and European Central Bank all meet this week, with “Tf I don’t have something that I can relate to them, I try students showing what they are doing. investors on the lookout for any further steps they might to find something in the town to associate with,” she said. “The hardest part for me was letting them go so early, so take to aid their battered economies. She uses the oil and gas economy, for example, as some- fast,” Kennedy said about the abrupt end ofthe year, pertain- Some nations’ recoveries “are a little more V-shaped be- thing that she can use as example in a lesson if it applies ing to meeting on campus. cause there’s a little bit more manufacturing, a little more to something. She said she building relationships with the She said she appreciates how much parents have stepped tech,” Catherine Mann, Citigroup Inc. chief economist and students is what she enjoys the most of teaching. up to make sure children are doing their lessons and that former chief economist for the Organization for Economic “T really just want the kids to know that no matter what students are doing the proper engagement with her on class Cooperation and Development, told Bloomberg Television. happens, no matter how the bad the day is, it’s always some- work. Kennedy is married to Travis and they have three chil- “That might be a South Korea or Taiwan. And then there thing that we can overcome and always [know] that I’m dren: Meghan, 14, Hadley, 10, and Lucas 7. See Beonomles page 2. oc for thein and Move them,” she said. “T would go to'the See Teacher of the Year page 2. Weather Vol. 118, No. 32 Mail delivery View online BLE tomorrow 7 83 / 61 75 cents, 8 pgs. 580.225.3000 elkcityoknews.com