About 125 leaders attended the community kickoff breakfast for Bright Futures Poplar Bluff on Friday, Oct. 17, at the Gamma HealthCare Conference Center, featuring keynote speaker Dr. C.J. Huff of Joplin, a 2013 National Superintendent of the Year finalist, as well as local advisory board members.

Poplar Bluff Schools has joined the 30 communities in six states, which have entered an affiliate community agreement with Bright Futures USA, founded in Joplin. The Bright Futures model provides a structure to make sure the physical and social needs of students are being met, so every child can focus on his or her academics.

The nonprofit accomplishes its mission by partnering with the business, faith-based and human service sectors, accessing charities already in existence. The main vehicle the school social workers will use to convey student needs with the public is through Facebook.

Watch the program launch video above. Click here to see the photo album, and be sure to 'like' your favorite shots!

On Friday, Oct. 17, Meadowlark Lemon of the Harlem Globetrotters visited Eugene Field, where the 2003 NBA Hall of Famer put on a basketball clinic for the elementary students.

Lemon and the Harlem All-Stars took on a team of Three Rivers College Alumni later on that weekend to serve as a fundraiser. Throughout the week prior, he made a series of promotional appearances, including visiting with the Mules Freshman Football team and Fellowship for Christian Athletes.

Above: Eugene Field Principal Jennifer Taylor proves what a good sport she is by attempting one of Lemon's incredible trick shots.

Below: Lemon poses for a photo with students [from left] Jacob Thurner, Autumn Walker and Key'Oshia Danner of the second grade.

Click here to view the entire album, and be sure to 'like' your favorite shots!

A total of $24,000 was raised for the United Cancer Assistance Network and Dig for Life as the result of T-shirt sales for Pink-Out Day on Friday, Oct. 17. Dig for Life provides free mammograms at Black River Medial Center and UCAN provides financial assistance for cancer patients undergoing treatment.

Above: Mayor Angela Pearson issues a proclamation to Junior and Senior High Student Council presidents Sophia Rowland and Lydia Keller, while UCAN Director Melody Melloy accepts a check on behalf of the help organization.

Below: UCAN board president Dennis Hanes surprises Senior High math teacher Hope Conover by presenting her with a plaque on behalf of the organization for founding Pink-Out Day in partnership with Jenn Nicolini, Junior High science instructor. 

Click here for more scenes from Pink-Out Day!

During the regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Thursday, Oct. 16, in the Administrative Building, the Board of Education unanimously approved a design development submittal from Ittner Architects, featuring more detailed renderings of the future high school and intermediate school for grades 4-6.

Design development is the transitional phase in which the design moves from the schematic phase to the construction document phase. During the next stage, final blueprints will be prepared for the board's approval before a bid package is created in February that describes for the contactor the buildings systems, materials and other technical considerations.

Above: Architect Todd Powers and his team at Ittner go over the cost estimate, bidding strategy and construction schedule of the buildings plan, as well as some of the products and materials proposed.

Below: Architect Ben Traxel of Dille and Traxel provides an overview of the new safe room, gym, classrooms, bathrooms and improved handicapped accessibility at the Junior High, which will go out to bid in the next couple weeks due to the FEMA grant's accelerated deadline.

Click here to take the virtual tour!

Several Poplar Bluff High School students under the instruction of vocal music director Joshua Allen were recently named to the All-District Choir during an audition at Cape Central High School.

The students will participate in a concert on Saturday, Nov. 8, in Cape Girardeau. In addition, the upperclassmen will to eligible to audition to perform with the All-State Choir.

Above: [Front to back] Karemenah Adams, Skylar Dugan, Hannah Earley, Alyssa Cook, Madelyn Rigby, Christian Cmehil-Warn, Mathew Pickard and Hunter Turner.

Poplar Bluff High School Principal Mike Kiehne recently presented senior Namara Haq a letter of commendation on behalf of the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Haq joins about 24,000 commended students throughout the nation for her exceptional academic promise, placing among the top 5 percent of more than 1.5 million students who took the 2013 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Seventh graders at Poplar Bluff Junior High recently had a mystery Skype session with Mooresville students of North Carolina, initially asking a series of questions to try to guess each other's location before collaborating on a school project together.

Instructional Technology Facilitators Valerie Ivie and Candace Warren developed the concept while networking with Mooresville teachers during the International Society for Technology in Education Conference this summer in Georgia. A leader in one-to-one laptop initiatives, Mooresville has mentored Poplar Bluff Schools in the Digital Transformation, through which Junior and Senior High students have been issued MacBook Airs.

Above: Student Jason Brittingham asks a question to Mooresville students while Candace Warren facilitates the Skype session.

Below: Timothy Hood [right] serves as a researcher pulling up Google Maps to try to identify the locale of the mystery students.