[graciegirl]

As anyone who has read my postings on this thread can see, it is intensely important in my values to support the youth of the future and their education. It is very easy to support ones grandchildren and last night we attended our fourth awards banquet for the Spark, a 78 page full color glossy news magazine produced every six weeks by the Lakota East High School Journalism Department. It has won its sixth National School Publications Association Pacemaker Award in ten years. It is given to the top student publications in the country and is often called the Pulitzer Prize of student publications. The Spark gets no monetary support from the school system, and raises and disperses the $37.000 plus budjet by itself. Probably because of that, the school system allows it to handle intense subjects. (Diversity, immigration, depression, drugs etc.)

The main reason that this publication is successful is obvious. We ate dinner, We. being an estimated 400 plus kids and their family members, who paid for their own meal, and then we sat for five and one half hours while the advisor, teacher, Dean Hume gave out awards. He presented an award to each person in the entire program and without notes, he talked about each one, and it was obvious he knew each one, and he praised them personally. He knew about their life outside Spark, their other awards, their enthusiasms and yes sometimes he just went on about their being quiet and sweet and diligent. I know that each kid believed in his or her heart that they were his favorite.

The superintendent of schools was there and many of the principals. Lakota graduates almost 800 students from this high school next Saturday. (There are two, the same size in the district.) Yes it is an affluent school district, but how does an area get affluent? Usually most people living in the school district do not inherit money, but work for it.

I was proud of our granddaughter, the managing editor, but personally know that she has worked at the Spark lab late into the night each week it goes to press and on most weekends too.

I was just plain proud and happy last night. Proud of the fledgling farm school district that we moved into 30 some years ago, proud of the parents and grandparents who worked hard to make it better.

There is a lot good with a lot of large Public Schools.

Thank you for listening.

Please google Lakota East Spark.