School

CHS Sophomore Xander Gasparlin has already made a little Wildcat history this year by being the first Willie the Wildcat to be named All-American Mascot at the National Cheerleaders Association cheer camp in Abilene’s Hardin Simmons University this summer.

On Aug. 1, Buffalo Wallow Young Marines of Canadian graduated eight recruits who have now earned the right to be called Young Marines. The graduation was led by Unit Cmdr. Max Monty and Unit Executive Officer Justin Dial with staff. In attendance were family members, friends, and representatives from the American Legion, Zybach-Owens Post #56.

Rural Texas counties got a shock from the 2020 U.S. Census data. It may have felt like the pandemic was to blame for fewer customers and a decline in the number of school kids this year. The cold hard fact is that people in Texas are still leaving rural counties and moving to cities.

A free Back-To-School Haircut Day was held at the Canadian Community Center on Saturday, Aug. 14. Haircuts were generously donated by David Strickland, aka Uncle Dave the Barber. The two young men above were each beneficiaries of Uncle Dave’s pop-up barber shop as they prepared to head back for the Opening Day of grade school on Monday. In a report to school trustees last Tuesday evening, Superintendent Lynn Pulliam said the early enrollment numbers showed a drop of 22 students from last year. “It is a number we are comfortable with,” he said, “though we hope it’s fewer.” Those numbers, he said, would probably be more accurate after the first week of school.