It's great seeing our kids getting involved with our community...

On Friday, June 22, several of our kids and Boy Scout troop members assisted with Posting of the Colors and Pledge of Allegiance at the SSG Ross Cox and Family Ground Breaking ceremony for Operation FINALLY HOME. Operation FINALLY HOME is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide custom made mortgage free homes to wounded and disabled veterans and the widows of the fallen in an effort to get their lives back on track and become productive members of their communities.

"Good job" to our kids for helping with the ceremony and a "thank you" for their service with Keep Odessa Beautiful as they continue to stay busy this summer.

* Robert Whatley to Cavazos Elementary (from OHS assistant principal)

* Tristan Specter to Burnet Elementary (from Lamar EEC)

* Martha Mitchell to Lamar EEC (from Goliad Elementary)

* Annette Macias to Goliad Elementary (from Pease Elementary)

* Stacy Johnson to Pease Elementary (from Ross Elementary assistant principal)

* Lina Perez to San Jacinto Elementary (from Milam Elementary assistant principal)

* Val Hernandez to Ector Junior High (from Alternative Center)

* Charlie Quintela to Alternative Center (from OHS vice principal)

Former Ector Junior High principal Tony Parris was hired as one of the District's two Energy Specialists to take the lead on energy and utility saving initiatives, and former San Jacinto Elementary principal Jeremy Gamble will remain in the District in a different capacity, a move he requested.

Work is now underway to install artificial turf practice fields at Odessa High School and Permian High School. The new fields will be inside the tracks on each campus. The turf fields will be all-weather, multi-purpose areas that address safety issues for our student-athletes. It will also save in the neighborhood of $90,000 per year in maintenance costs as well as some three million gallons of water. The fields are expected to be finished in July.

After work at the two schools is complete, the existing turf at Ratliff Stadium - which is going into its tenth season and is at the end of its useful life - will be replaced with a new surface. The total cost of all of the projects is $2 million.

From City Planning to Global Food Crisis to Wild Life Defenders, the kids in Camp SIP took on some very weighty issues over the past two week. And had a great time doing it!

Camp SIP (Scholars in Progress) is the annual enrichment camp for up to 120 students in the Gifted/Talented Program. Held at Ector Junior High, this year's camp allowed students took at issues like water shortages and remedies - they visited Odessa's Water Reclamation Plant - through hands-on lessons and labs. In the photos at the bottom, students set up their own Stream Tables to study how water can be moved and collected through landscape design. Students also took water samples from local sources to test.

The photos at the top are from the session called "The Artist's View." In this class students identified a problem or issue of their own choosing and then created a work of art to help bring awareness to that issue. The kids studied famous artists and their styles to learn about perspectives and designs.