With Early Childhood Education being a focal point of her platform, First Lady Deborah Bryant decided to "Read Across Mississippi" in 2014. She has pledged to read to students in all 82 counties this year. To date, she has read to 62 counties with DeSoto County being one of her recent stops. 

    The governor's wife came to Greenbrook Elementary and read to 2nd grade students.  Before she read her book by Mississippi author Bill Wilson called "The Fib," she took time to get to know the students and shared facts about her life. 

   "We live in the Governor's Mansion in Jackson.  It was built in 1841," she told the admiring children as they viewed a picture of the Mansion.  "It belongs to all of you." 

   One inquiring mind raised her hand and asked, "Do they let you go upstairs?" 

   "Yes, I go upstairs often," Mrs. Bryant said. 

   "Well, in Elvis' house they do not let you go upstairs," the student said with authority. 

   "How old are you?" another student asked. 

    "I am almost 60," she said as children sucked in their breath. 

   Besides telling personal information, she encouraged the students to "be the best 

you can be at whatever you do" and "treat others as you want to be treated."  

She said her grandmother told her those thoughts and she has passed them on to her children.

   Students seemed to appreciate her down-to earth style and the fact that she listened to them.

   "When I grow up," one student said, "I want to be a First Lady just like you." 

 Math and science classes are literally alive at Pleasant Hill Elementary. 

Stephanie Case and Jamie Loper join in the fun of learning math through a frog jumping contest.

A frog race-with real frogs-helped student grasp concepts about bar graphs, rounding numbers and place value,  which are standards for 3rd grade math under the Common Core State Standards.

Michael Alford was all smiles at PHES.

    Gathering in the rotunda at PHES, students got behind their frogs and tried to keep them in their lanes, gently blowing on them to coax them toward the finish line.

    Lots of numerical calculations took place to pare down the mass of frogs for the finalists.  Students had to keep logs to record data that was later represented in charts and graphs.

   Students counted their frogs hops in a 20 second time period to see which frog was exerting the greatest effort.

Jack Lyles was the student first place winner.

   "I love to see our students engaged in learning," said PHES Principal Jamie Loper.  "It was part math and part science, but it was also fun."

   Students were not the only ones to race frogs.  Teachers also had a race and Stephanie Case was the winner.

   Schools across the nation put a lot of time and effort on Homecoming themes. Students at Southaven High School decided to redirect their efforts and give back to their community instead.

   Each class at SHS has adopted a charity and they are working to raise money and awareness for four causes:

   Freshmen--Breast Cancer

   Sophomores--Military

   Juniors--Domestic Violence

   Seniors--Autism  

   Instead of Homecoming at Southaven being "all about them," the students have opened their eyes to opportunities for service right where they are with the skills they have. 

   Brittany Foust, senior student council president said , "I believe the student body at SHS can make a difference in our community.  This is an amazing opportunity for us."

   Karen Hatch, student council sponsor and math teacher at SHS said, "Students have the heart for this.  It is very encouraging to see young people working to help others instead of themselves.  This is a great class."

   Different classes are raising money in various ways, from organizing hat day to selling ribbons and T-shirts.

   "This senior class wants to leave a lasting legacy," said Principal Shane Jones.  "It is a rock-solid group with a number of outstanding leaders.  They are planning to continue supporting these causes all school year.  In an age of 'selfies', this group is really selfless.  They are leaving a good foundation for our underclassmen."

     Students at the DeSoto County Career & Technology Center-East are learning how to perform CPR thanks to a teacher grant from the DeSoto County Economic Council. The grant program is in its 25th year and hopes to hit the $1 million mark in giving teacher grants this fall.  The grant program is operated through the Foundation for Excellence in Education.

     The grants given to DeSoto County Schools allows teachers like Ashley Berryhill to teach CPR year round. She says the grant process is very competitive, and teachers apply for items needed that they are not able to purchase otherwise, like CPR kits.

     Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto is one of the businesses in the Mid-South that has supported the grant program for many years. Officials says programs like this gives opportunities to students and save lives in the future.

     "We work to give grants that are health related because we've seen first-hand how this introduces students to the medical field improving the quality care we can provide in the future," James Huffman, administrator and CEO of Baptist Memorial Hospital - DeSoto.

     "We work to give needed classroom learning supplies not covered through other funding sources," said Deborah Morgan, office administrator for the DeSoto County Economic Council. "The deadline for businesses and individuals to register to contribute to the program is September 30th. We need 50 more businesses to give $500 each to help improve opportunities for students in our area."

     The deadline for teachers to apply was September 30th. Grants will be awarded October 30th at DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.