School

Hemphill County 4-H members recently elected their new officer and leadership team for the upcoming 2021-22 school year. The newly elected officers are President Haeleigh Thompson, Vice President Ashley Perry, Secretary Tucker Landry, Treasurer Leah Moreno, and Reporter Everett Cook. The leadership team consists of Coy Pittman, Colt Pittman, Natalie Zenor, Lilly Bradford, and Collier Cook. The group met last week in a workshop to plan and prepare for the 4-H club meetings that will be held during the next school year. They received leadership training and worked on developing speaking skills. Following the workshop, the officer team traveled to Oklahoma City for a team-building experience.

Sixth-graders at Canadian Middle School completed the Texas A&M AgriLife “Choose Healthy“ nutrition lesson series as the 2020-21 school year came to a close. The series emphasized the importance of learning why it is important to make nutritious food choices daily along with learning the necessity of staying hydrated. Students also learned about the importance of agriculture to their food supply in their daily lives. To wrap up the lesson series, students submitted their entries into a contest to create posters showing what they had learned. The top five posters were displayed at Happy State Bank. The top three winners are pictured above: first place, Ashley Avalos and Jasmine Avilla; second place, Annette Vargas and Monique Rangle; and third place, Samantha Benson and Kulden Wyatt.

6TH SIX WEEKS All-A Honor Roll Senior: Abi Black, Peyton Dockray, Everett Hadaway, Rachel Leatherman, Parker Lee, Alondra Ortega, Jackie Perez, Victoria Shott, Macey Witt. Junior: Miguel Alvarez, Karen Aragon, Leo Avila, Kennedi Cook, Maude Culwell, Pamela Escarcega, Logan Gatlin, Arthur Klein Brown, Briley Merket, Nathan Mondragon, Tinley Pennington, Leslie Villa, Kailey Witt.

Mother Nature smiled on the Canadian High School Class of 2021. The temperature was pleasant, the skies were clear, the sun shone, and the wind—well, the wind still blew, but nothing like the 48 mph gusts that their predecessors, the Class of ’20, suffered.

Canadian High School junior Logan Gatlin was named the 3A state UIL champion in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate competition late Wednesday afternoon, May 26, and awarded the gold medal. The tournament was hosted through a virtual format this year due to COVID-19.

In the final week of school, nearly 300 pre-K through fourth-grade students were invited, over a period of four days, to Canadian's Dairy Queen where they made their own Blizzards. Each student was give carte blanche to completely customize their DQ Blizzard to their liking. According to the staff at Dairy Queen, the most favorable topping among the students was sprinkles. The DQ staff was amused by the kids’ reactions...especially when they showed them DQ's signature trick, in which the Blizzard gets flipped upside down when serving. Some were surprised...some fearful... and several reflexively put out one hand out to catch the Blizzard, assuming their masterpieces would fall to the floor. Not one did. The kids left Dairy Queen with delicious Blizzards and fond memories of the day. According to the staff, they also went home grinning at the end of the week, seeing how happy the kids were and knowing they were able to give them that experience. REPORT BY LILY SMITH

Friday evening’s promotion ceremony for the Canadian Middle School eighthgrade class—85 members strong—was held in the CHS gymnasium, due to their sheer number. Despite that, the annual rite of passage into high school was executed flawlessly and in quick order. From processional to recessional, the formalities took only 42 minutes, culminating in the presentation of the Abraham Cup to outstanding class member Maggie Hanes.