Monday, Sept. 6
No School Labor Day

Whether it’s encouraging parents to be more involved in their child’s education or raising reading levels, Jesse Hernandez hopes to meet those goals this year.
Hernandez was hired in June as Shawnee Early Childhood Center’s new principal after the retirement of Paul Pounds.

The Tecumseh Public Library is targeting its youngest future readers with a program beginning next month that is new for the library and the Pioneer Library System.
The library will host a Babygarten™ storytime series, beginning at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14, and running each subsequent Tuesday for six weeks at the library, 114 N. Broadway Ave.

The Oklahoma Heritage Association and Gaylord-Pickens Museum are making available a new $5,000 scholarship to an Oklahoma high school senior.

Nine members of the St. Gregory’s University Buckley Team were officially commissioned during Sunday’s morning Mass at St. Gregory’s Abbey.

Construction crews at Jim Thorpe stadium will bring in a milling machine to fix humps and dips hampering the track around the football field.
That was recommended Tuesday by representatives from ATG Sports, who met the general contractor, Homeland General Contractors, and others. This decision was made after seeing problems with the first half-inch layer of asphalt.

Oklahoma Baptist University alum Earl Bigelow, age 92, preached what he intended to be his final sermon on Sunday, Aug. 22, at First Baptist Church in Pacific Beach, Calif. Bigelow has served as a Baptist minister for more than 70 years.

The recent move of the Shawnee Wolves’ first home game means coaches and the team will have to change the normal routine.
The first home football game against Bartlesville Sept. 3 is being moved to Tecumseh because construction at Jim Thorpe Stadium will not be complete by that time.

Oklahoma Baptist University has named Dr. Lauren Denney Wright as a new assistant professor of music and director of bands. She began her tenure on Bison Hill on Aug. 18.

The Shawnee Educational Foundation is seeking nominations for its annual Hall of Fame award.
Recipients are recognized at the Hall of Fame banquet in February of each year.

Oklahoma Baptist University alum Jenny Affentranger, who serves as lower elementary principal for Bethel Schools, has been selected to serve on a 12-person National Board for Professional Teaching Standards committee that will revise the Literacy: Reading-Language Arts Standards.
Affentranger, who was selected from more than 500 applicants, will travel to the Washington, D.C., metro area five times between October and February for committee work.

Alan H. Kelly, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation was selected as a 2010 AARP Oklahoma Indian Elder honoree after being nominated for the award by AARP Local Chapter 1527.

Ten Shawnee-area residents have been named to Oklahoma Baptist University’s President’s Honor Roll for the summer 2010 semester.

Shawnee students returned to school Wednesday and for two best friends, it was a chance see one another and meet new friends.
Jefferson Elementary fifth grade students Emily Tiger and Parker Greenwood have been best friends for as long as they can remember.
“We’ve known each other since we were born and our parents are great friends,” Greenwood said.

For the 17th consecutive year, Oklahoma Baptist University has been listed as Oklahoma’s highest-rated baccalaureate college in U.S.News & World Report’s annual ranking of “America’s Best Colleges.” In the 2011 ratings, released Aug. 17, OBU is ranked second in the West.

The Pioneer Library System is celebrating National Library Card Sign-Up Month early and will extend the celebration through March with various discount and freebie opportunities for cardholders at several participating businesses.
“It’s a win for everyone,” Christian Potts, PLS spokesman, said. “It’s good for customers and they can find incentives beyond the card.”

The common word used was excited — excited to see new and returning students beginning next week.
Teachers in Shawnee from all campuses went back to work Friday, with a meeting at the Performing Arts and Athletic Center at Shawnee High School.
And throughout an informal breakfast, teachers were talking, seeing colleagues and reminiscing about the summer and previous years. But most of all, those teachers were looking forward to a new year.

The University of Central Oklahoma congratulates the 636 students from throughout Oklahoma, the US and the world who will complete their college degrees as the summer semester comes to a close.

Students in Shawnee will have a new alternative when school begins next week.
Jim Thorpe Academy will begin a virtual school, which will allow students another option to get their high school diploma.

Seminole State College has announced a new “Afternoon College” so students can complete all required first semester courses in an afternoon setting — one course per day, beginning at 2 p.m.