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You've got eMule!
Vol. 12 No. 14
Welcome back to The eMule! Here is the latest news from Poplar Bluff Schools to help start your week on the right hoof.
| Ribbon cutting held for locally-built Junior High Activity Center |  | |
A few dozen school supporters and those instrumental in the project helped celebrate the ribbon cutting for the 8,700-square-foot Activity Center on Friday, Feb. 2, at Poplar Bluff Junior High.
Designed locally by Dille and Pollard Architecture and constructed by C.E. Norton, the facility features three classroom spaces, a large multipurpose room with 12-foot high ceilings, a state-of-the-art weight room, restrooms and storage.
“We’re super excited for it to finally come to fruition,” said Candace Warren, Junior High principal. “The new state-of-the-art facility provides a much better educational learning environment for our students, plus a building visible from the highway that we can all be proud of.”
The previous structure, in the exact location at the backend of Fred M. Morrow stadium, represented one the oldest buildings across campus dating back to 1937, originally housing industrial arts and special education programming, according to district records. The dilapidated facility was razed by Strack Excavating following the 2021/22 school year in order to create space for ground to be broken on the Activity Center, with Smith & Company providing the civil engineering in tandem with Case Engineering.
Design & modeling and medical detectives electives under Project Lead the Way, along with health education, assumed occupancy of the new classroom wing in January. The previous plan was to include a band practice area, but participation is more significant than it has ever been, according to Warren, so seventh and eighth grade are instead being split between the band room in the main building and lower gym, where sound panels will be installed. The multipurpose room is designed for physical education circuit training, cheer practice, running sports drills, hosting team meetings and featuring guest speakers, Warren noted.
The weight room was previously housed in the lobby above the main gymnasium, also 87 years old. Junior High physical education teacher Jeff Mannon is credited for working with Show Me Weights to equip the new headquarter with custom racks, cardio machines, free weights, kettlebells, medicine balls, battle ropes and more. The walls were wrapped with a Mules theme designed by Southeast Signs and Graphics.
“Between the new FEMA building and classroom addition of several years ago, and now the latest Activity Center, we are happy to continue to help establish a modern-day learning environment while preserving the campus’ rich history, and maximizing our footprint on this historic school site next to one of Poplar Bluff’s busiest intersections,” stated Dr. Aaron Cornman, R-I superintendent. “We were fortunate to be able to finance this project out of district balances with careful management of our capital project budget by the Board of Education and previous school administration, while in large part keeping the work local.”
Above: Hosted by the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for the Activity Center on Friday, Feb. 2, at PBJHS.
Click here for a building tour and to view all of our photos from the ribbon cutting!
|  | Heartland Forward grant program launches with health fair at PBHS |  | |
Poplar Bluff High School hosted its inaugural health fair on Friday, Jan. 26, as the first step of a grant-funded initiative designed to expose students to lucrative careers in the health care industry, and help combat the nursing shortage in Butler County.
The nursing career pathways program is being piloted locally under Heartland Forward with a near $1.5 million Workforce Opportunities in Rural Communities grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, after a community coalition was formed in March through the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce.
“From an economic development perspective with data, feedback and looking at the region of this rural community, there are limited job options that pay a higher income and offer benefits,” stated Dr. Maria Rodriguez-Alcalá, Heartland Forward program director for health and wellness. “Health care is one of the most, if not the most, likely paths to get a good career that will pay you well—especially if you come from a lower-income family or your parents may not have had the college experience—to improve economic mobility for students, and also for the area.”
The Poplar Bluff Technical Career Center and Three Rivers College, along with neighboring hospitals and nursing homes, set up informational booths in the gymnasium with representatives on hand to provide exposure of related career fields to the student body. Under the partnership, PBHS has committed to hosting the health fair for three years with an expectation that the school system will continue coordinating its own event in the future.
“I’ve… heard a few students mention that they are now interested in some aspect of the nursing field, where it wasn’t even on their radar before today,” PBHS anatomy and physiology teacher Karen Harris reported back to the coalition afterward. “I look forward to continuing working with each of you so we can help our students establish a successful career pathway, and contribute to a quality health care system in our community.”
Plans are already underway to improve the health fair next year, Rodriguez-Alcalá mentioned, including expanding employer representation, adding interactive activities such as virtual reality and launching a speaker series leading up to the date. Since the long-term goal is not only to increase student interest in the profession, but to improve retention rates at medical centers, going through the TCC health occupations program is strongly recommended as a starting point, according to Rodriguez-Alcalá.
"More important than the number of students is that the right ones are entering, particularly at the beginning, since we can’t expand capacity too fast at Three Rivers College, because there’s a big bottleneck all over the country – with regard to a shortage of faculty,” she noted. Students interested in learning more about the NCP program may reach out to TCC instructor Abby Crites as an initial point of contact. Additionally, as part of the grant funding, multiple new positions will be established for managing the apprenticeships, outreach, consulting and marketing Rodriguez-Alcalá continued.
Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center has agreed to provide paid-for apprenticeships for students completing clinical components required in courses. Limited assistance will be available with flexibility to help with expenses such as child care or transportation. Wraparound support will also be provided, including mental health services and mentorships, if deemed possible. A program launch is tentatively being planned in the spring to showcase the new simulation labs at Three Rivers, which will be equipped with updated mannequins so options may be expanded for students needing training in order to obtain CNA, LPN or RN certifications.
Founded by the Walton family, the Heartland Foundation is a ‘think-and-do tank’ based in Bentonville, Ark., dedicated to fostering job creation in the Heartland, defined as 20 states in the middle of the country, according to the nonpartisan nonprofit. The Community Funding Accelerator is credited for helping to secure the federal funding. Last year, health care employment grew at its fastest clip since 1991, adding 654,000 jobs, while nursing staffing is down 4.6 percent from pre-pandemic levels, according to research compiled by the Altarum Institute.
“Only one pilot came out of this from a rural health care report we did at the end of 2022 that covered six states so we can learn and understand what is needed from a community perspective, and provide a little more structure and coordination to help get it off the ground with a grow-your-own kind of strategy for the workforce,” said Rodriguez-Alcalá, adding that a large reason Poplar Bluff was chosen was because of the rapid response from all parties involved. “Eventually we’d like to see about doing something similar in other communities—not replicating, but helping to bring together a local commission to see what holes need to be filled there—with our role simply being the facilitator and conveyor, and it then being funded by philanthropy.”
Above: With representation from the health occupations program, TCC instructor Abby Crites fields questions from prospective students.
Below: Nursing staff from Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center promote surgical assistant jobs available during the health fair on Friday, Jan. 26, at PBHS.
|  | Commissioned artwork sold as Athletic Department fundraiser |  | |
The R-I Athletic Department is selling 11x14 prints of an acrylic painting of a Mules helmet commissioned to the Poplar Bluff school system last month as a fundraiser by a local Renaissance man.
Mike Shane, who retired as an Air Evac Lifeteam pilot following a storied military career, is the creator of the series housed at the Poplar Bluff Museum depicting Mules Football players through the ages.
“These Mules paintings are how I got involved with the museum,” Shane explained. “I would go there every Sunday for three hours, [thumb] through all the yearbooks and pull out pictures of old Mules uniforms.”
In getting to know the staff around that time in 2008, it was soon discovered that Shane was a veteran, and he was ultimately given free rein to renovate the Kanell Hall Veterans Hall. Shane joined the U.S. Army in 1974 “to go to art college with the G.I. Bill,” he said, but instead went on to become a paratrooper, and advanced all the way up to serving the 2nd Ranger Battalion.
“I fell backwards into loving the Army, serving the Rangers. I stumbled into flight school, and couldn’t stop,” Sgt. Shane recalled. “…After that, I kept flying as an EMS. Air Evac was putting helicopters in small towns, and that’s what brought me here.”
Several years after retiring in Memphis from a military career that spanned two decades, he began working as a pilot for Air Evac, helping to open the first landing base in Poplar Bluff in 2002. Shane retired from providing air medical transportation services two years ago, reportedly clocking 7,000 hours of flight time between both professions.
Since 2022, Shane has become increasingly more involved with the school district, substitute teaching. Junior High honored the veteran this year by naming its house system after lifelong first responders in the community, including Shane House, one of six teams of staff members and students who compete through service projects.
Raised in southern California, Shane has always dabbled in art, he noted, serving as an illustrator as well as a cartoonist across occupations, additionally having work published in the motorcycling magazine, Cycle News. His paintings are available on eBay and he also has a book on Amazon entitled “Tall Tales: Stories from the Poplar Bluff Museum,” a compilation of his Daily American Republic column series.
Unframed prints of the Mules helmet cost $20, with proceeds supporting all of the sports programming, according to R-I Athletic Director Kent Keith. To reserve a copy, email the quantity desired and contact information to lauriefaries@pb.k12.mo.us or call 573-785-6471, ext. 2.
Above: A framed picture of a Mules helmet painted by Mike Shane hangs in the Athletic Department at Poplar Bluff High School.
Below: Local artist, author and veteran Mike Shane has most recently been substitute teaching at Mark Twain School, following a long-term stint at the Middle School.
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FAFSA Frenzy
Additional dates for our annual FAFSA Frenzy, designated for college-bound students seeking free assistance in applying for federal aid, have been scheduled for 3:30-5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13; 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 6; and 3:30-5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, in the PBHS commons area.
President’s Day
School will be dismissed on Monday, Feb. 19, for President's Day, followed by teacher collaboration day on Tuesday, Feb. 20. School resumes for students on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
ECH Screening
A screening for 2024/25 enrollment at the Poplar Bluff Early Childhood Center will take place on Tuesday, March 26. To schedule an appointment, call 573-785-6803. Please have child’s social security number handy. To attend, child(ren) must be between 3-5 years old on July 31.
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On Tuesday, Jan. 30, KFVS12 reported about Mules Football players Darius Graham and Logan Hite earning an opportunity to represent the North team in the Blue Grey All-American Bowl in Florida.
KWOC also reported about the participation of PBHS in the national bowl game.
On Wednesday, Jan. 31, KWOC reported about the Child Concern of Butler County and Masonic Lodge making generous donations to the school district to help meet student needs prior to the holiday season.
The DAR reported about PBHS junior William Montgomery’s fundraising efforts and exclusive invite by the Missouri Ambassadors of Music to perform in Europe.
On Friday, Feb. 2, the DAR reported about our PBJHS Activity Center ribbon cutting; honored our December Athletes of the Month; and recognized our Middle School Honor Roll.
KWOC promoted our PBHS Drama Club’s “Whose Line Is It, Anyway” improv show.
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