Hundreds of current and future students will benefit from more than $21,000 invested into their education through grants made possible by supporters of the Shawnee Educational Foundation, which held its annual Hall of Fame banquet and auction this week.
The $21,204 worth of grants awarded to local educators this year brings the total of contributions donated to fund special projects and purchases to $214,605 during the banquet’s first 10 years.
Local educators, city leaders and other supporters gathered to celebrate the creativity of those who applied for the grants, to participate in a silent benefit auction and to honor the first coach to be inducted into the SEF Hall of Fame inside the Geiger Center at Oklahoma Baptist University.
Honor
Frank Lee Kennon, a 1947 Shawnee High School graduate who dedicated more than 35 years to students in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas, as a teacher, athletic director and coach, was named as the 2009 Hall of Fame honoree.
Gary Rose, who played football for Kennon at Shawnee and went on to secure eight state championships at Carl Albert, introduced Kennon, explaining why he was “the first coach this foundation has honored.”
“Coaching is education,” Rose said. “Especially when it’s done right. We’re all a product of the people who influence us...and Kennon taught me to believe in myself, believe in my team and to never give up.”
Rose said Kennon is the coach who influenced him more than any other, including those who led him during his college years and said there are several words he was taught by Kennon’s coaching that he still applies to his life today. Those words, he said, were “unselfish, teamwork, work ethic, commitment, toughness, perseverance and courage.”
Rose said he will always remember the words Kennon told him and his teammates during a game several years ago — “Just 24 more minutes of guts.” Those words taught him the lesson of never giving up, he said.
Kennon said he also remembers those who helped him to never give up and said those who played for him, with him and even opposing him were among them.
“Going to Heaven will be a great experience,” Kennon said. “But not much more than being with all of you here tonight. If I took five seconds for everyone who touched my life, I’d take more than my time allowed.”
Kennon listed several of those he admired and who touched his life, including his wife of nearly 57 years, Ruth Kennon.
“No coach can teach 36 years, 14 or 15 years, without a wife like mine,” he said.
Also among the names he listed was long-time Shawnee resident Fritz Anderson.
“If they ever name the true, best citizen of Shawnee, of the year, the decade or the hundred years, it would be Fritz Anderson,” he said.
Kennon said the 27 months he spent in the Navy during World War II, including his participation in the invasion of Okinawa, Japan, the day after his 18th birthday, also was worthy of his admiration because of the lessons it provided him.
“World War II was the best thing for me,” he said. “It gave me an education...it taught me the best place to be is in Shawnee, Oklahoma.”
Awards
Also proud of their involvement with Shawnee were the more than 20 recipients of grants to use in their classrooms and libraries.
Among them were teachers from North Rock Creek, South Rock Creek, Horace Mann, Grove, Will Rogers, Shawnee Middle School, the Shawnee Early Childhood Center, Jefferson Elementary, Sequoyah and Shawnee High School.
Grants awarded will be used to provide students in fifth through eighth grades at Grove with planners to help foster organization skills; to purchase two robots for students at Shawnee Middle School to design, build and take to competitions; to provide electronics such as a Nintendo Wii gaming system, digital cameras, an iPod and more to various students in schools throughout the district; and to teach art, language, math, reading, writing, science and other subjects to students from pre-K to 12th grade in fresh, interactive ways that “make learning fun.”
The grants ranged from $221.42 awarded to Horace Mann for its Mirror, Mirror! art project to several grants of $1,250 for physical education, mathematics and more at other schools.
Support
Many of those who heard grant recipients speak of the impact the awards will have on their classrooms and other learning facilities began helping raise funds for the 2010 SEF banquet by participating in a silent auction.
The “Stepping up for Education” auction provided several step stools decorated by students and teachers toward which supporters could place their bids. The monies collected from the auctioning of the stools will be used to help fund future SEF grants and expenses.
For more information about SEF, visit the district Web site at www.shawnee.k12.ok.us.
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Hundreds of current and future students will benefit from more than $21,000 invested into their education through grants made possible by supporters of the Shawnee Educational Foundation, which held its annual Hall of Fame banquet and auction this week.
The $21,204 worth of grants awarded to local educators this year brings the total of contributions donated to fund special projects and purchases to $214,605 during the banquet’s first 10 years.
Local educators, city leaders and other supporters gathered to celebrate the creativity of those who applied for the grants, to participate in a silent benefit auction and to honor the first coach to be inducted into the SEF Hall of Fame inside the Geiger Center at Oklahoma Baptist University.
Honor
Frank Lee Kennon, a 1947 Shawnee High School graduate who dedicated more than 35 years to students in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas, as a teacher, athletic director and coach, was named as the 2009 Hall of Fame honoree.
Gary Rose, who played football for Kennon at Shawnee and went on to secure eight state championships at Carl Albert, introduced Kennon, explaining why he was “the first coach this foundation has honored.”
“Coaching is education,” Rose said. “Especially when it’s done right. We’re all a product of the people who influence us...and Kennon taught me to believe in myself, believe in my team and to never give up.”
Rose said Kennon is the coach who influenced him more than any other, including those who led him during his college years and said there are several words he was taught by Kennon’s coaching that he still applies to his life today. Those words, he said, were “unselfish, teamwork, work ethic, commitment, toughness, perseverance and courage.”
Rose said he will always remember the words Kennon told him and his teammates during a game several years ago — “Just 24 more minutes of guts.” Those words taught him the lesson of never giving up, he said.
Kennon said he also remembers those who helped him to never give up and said those who played for him, with him and even opposing him were among them.
“Going to Heaven will be a great experience,” Kennon said. “But not much more than being with all of you here tonight. If I took five seconds for everyone who touched my life, I’d take more than my time allowed.”
Kennon listed several of those he admired and who touched his life, including his wife of nearly 57 years, Ruth Kennon.
“No coach can teach 36 years, 14 or 15 years, without a wife like mine,” he said.
Also among the names he listed was long-time Shawnee resident Fritz Anderson.
“If they ever name the true, best citizen of Shawnee, of the year, the decade or the hundred years, it would be Fritz Anderson,” he said.
Kennon said the 27 months he spent in the Navy during World War II, including his participation in the invasion of Okinawa, Japan, the day after his 18th birthday, also was worthy of his admiration because of the lessons it provided him.
“World War II was the best thing for me,” he said. “It gave me an education...it taught me the best place to be is in Shawnee, Oklahoma.”
Awards
Also proud of their involvement with Shawnee were the more than 20 recipients of grants to use in their classrooms and libraries.
Among them were teachers from North Rock Creek, South Rock Creek, Horace Mann, Grove, Will Rogers, Shawnee Middle School, the Shawnee Early Childhood Center, Jefferson Elementary, Sequoyah and Shawnee High School.
Grants awarded will be used to provide students in fifth through eighth grades at Grove with planners to help foster organization skills; to purchase two robots for students at Shawnee Middle School to design, build and take to competitions; to provide electronics such as a Nintendo Wii gaming system, digital cameras, an iPod and more to various students in schools throughout the district; and to teach art, language, math, reading, writing, science and other subjects to students from pre-K to 12th grade in fresh, interactive ways that “make learning fun.”
The grants ranged from $221.42 awarded to Horace Mann for its Mirror, Mirror! art project to several grants of $1,250 for physical education, mathematics and more at other schools.
Support
Many of those who heard grant recipients speak of the impact the awards will have on their classrooms and other learning facilities began helping raise funds for the 2010 SEF banquet by participating in a silent auction.
The “Stepping up for Education” auction provided several step stools decorated by students and teachers toward which supporters could place their bids. The monies collected from the auctioning of the stools will be used to help fund future SEF grants and expenses.
For more information about SEF, visit the district Web site at www.shawnee.k12.ok.us.
2009 SEF grant proposals awarded
• Horace Mann — Hugs, Laughs and Life-Long Lessons: $900.94
• Horace Mann — Mirror, Mirror!: $221.42
• Horace Mann — Wii Need to Play to Learn: $1,212.06
• Sequoyah, Will Rogers, Horace Mann and Jefferson — Every Picture Tells a Story: $1,176
• Grove School — Starting From Scratch-Kids Promote Emergency Disaster Preparedness: $378
• Grove School — Plan to Succeed: $1,076.80
• Will Rogers — Neo 2: $1,250
• Will Rogers — Rhymes ‘n Times: $1,250
• Will Rogers — Lights! Camera! Learning in Action!: $1,250
• Will Rogers — Learning and Character: $461.07
• Will Rogers, Shawnee Early Childhood Center and Jefferson — There’s a Lemur On My Femur!: $1,249.98
• Shawnee Middle School — Picture It!: $805
• Shawnee Middle School — NXT Generation of Math and Science Students: $1,225
• Shawnee High School — Arriba en la Clase-Move up in the Classroom: $1,234.88
• North Rock Creek — Let’s Hear It For Books: $1,250
• North Rock Creek — Twist, Shout and Swim About: $573.83
• North Rock Creek — Sensational Science: $982.89
• South Rock Creek — “ABC” Reflections and Me: $960
• South Rock Creek — Get Smart: $1,250
• South Rock Creek — Gym-Texture Wall-Mountain Scene: $1,247
• South Rock Creek — Traversing: $1,250
