DCHS Awards Student, Teacher, and Parents of the Month

November 3, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County High School continued its monthly observance Wednesday of recognizing a teacher, student, and parent or guardian of the month.

Each received a certificate from the school and a gift card for a meal from Twisted Oaks. A different restaurant will be offering a meal gift card to each month’s honorees.

DCHS teacher Chris Vance was selected as Teacher of the Month while 11th grader Serenity Faith Burgess, daughter Joshua and Tristan Burgess, is Student of the Month, voted on by the teachers, faculty, and staff. Viridiana Valencia and Juan Arvizu were chosen as Parents of the Month based on an essay written by their daughter, 9th grader Dana Gonzales.. As part of the nomination process for this honor, each student must submit an essay on why their parent or guardian deserves the recognition.

“This was surprising but nice, “ said Burgess in response to her being named Student of the Month. As Drum Major in the DCHS Band, Burgess said she has a passion for music and hopes to one day become a teacher to make music education a career.

Vance is a veteran teacher having been at DCHS since 1994. He is a Junior and Senior English educator and is over an ACT English prep class. Vance, who is also a former DCHS football and golf coach, said he still enjoys teaching and is honored to receive this recognition. “I started out teaching and trying to take a coaching path and that worked out for a while but as your kids get older you want to spend more time with them and follow what they are doing so that got me out of the coaching end of it. Although its been a stressful time in education with COVID and other things going on there are a lot of really big rewards for being a teacher and every now and then something like this (recognition) comes along that makes it really great,” said Vance.

Gonzales said she was inspired to pay tribute to her parents, especially her mom in an essay to let others know about the sacrifices she made to raise her along with two sisters and a brother. “Because she had to quit school to support us my mom sacrificed her dream job of one day becoming a lawyer. I decided to do something special for her in writing this essay to not only tell what she sacrificed but how we struggled through life. My mom is very caring of us and deserves this award plus so much more,” she said.

Gonzales’ mother, who speaks little English, said only “I am proud of it and I love her (daughter),” when asked how she felt about being named parent of the month at DCHS.

November 3, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday, November 7 and while you are changing your clocks, the DeKalb County Fire Department wants to remind you to change your batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms also. The message is simple and it’s easy to do. Please take a few minutes to make sure life-saving alarms have fresh batteries so you, your family, and your home are protected.

Lieutenant Dustin Johnson, the DeKalb County Fire Department’s Fire Prevention and Safety Officer, reminds DeKalb County residents that after batteries are changed in alarms, take a few extra minutes to test your alarms and remind family, friends, and neighbors to do the same. Not all smoke alarms have batteries that have to be replaced each year. Some newer model alarms have batteries that last up to 10 years. However, it is still very important to test and clean your alarms. You can clean and maintain them simply by using compressed air to remove dust residue that accumulates on alarms that can cause the alarm’s sensor to not operate properly.

Eighty percent of child fire fatalities occur in homes without working smoke alarms. It’s a tragic statistic that can be prevented. Changing smoke alarm batteries at least once a year, testing those alarms, and reminding others to do the same are some of the simplest, most effective ways to reduce these tragic deaths and injuries. “The vast majority of our house fires happen between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. when most families are sleeping,” said Lt. Johnson. “Smoke alarm installation and maintenance is a simple, effective way to reduce home fire deaths. Children and senior citizens are most at risk, and a working smoke alarm can give them the extra seconds they need to get out safely.”

“A working smoke detector doubles your chance of surviving a home fire. So, why would you not want you and your family to have this protection?” For more information about fire safety, visit the DeKalb County Fire Department’s FaceBook Group page or the department’s website at www.dekalbfire.com.

November 3, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Christmas is the season for giving and children who participate in this year’s 7th Annual Regifting Event will have a chance to experience that by doing something special for their parents and total strangers.

Regifting gives children ages 4 to 12 an opportunity to shop for their parents or caregivers at no cost. The gifts are then wrapped, tagged, and prepared for Christmas giving.

This year’s Regifting Event will be on Saturday, December 4 from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. or until all gifts are gone at the DeKalb County Complex. Families must pre-register their children in order to be eligible for a chance to receive a door prize. Please wait in your car while your children shop. All children who shop will receive a goody bag.

Donations are collected throughout the year for this event so that those who can’t afford to buy gifts can still share in the joy of giving by regifting something.

“We let kids come in and shop for their parents or caregivers. It’s not income based. It’s for anybody. They shop for free, wrap the presents, and fill out the card,” said Kim Walker, who organizes the annual event.

The children are then asked to prepare a blessing bag to be given to others. This year, children will help assemble Blessing Bags for local inmates.

A quilt square is decorated per child and then a quilt is assembled from the quilt squares to be donated to someone with health or other life challenging issues. You may contact Regifting event organizers to nominate someone who needs a blessing.

“We’re trying to share God’s love with kids to plant a seed so that no matter how old they are they always remember to help somebody else”.

If you need more information or would like to volunteer call or text Amber Adams at 615-684-5798 from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. or Joanna Fuson at 615-517-9100 but no calls after 9 p.m.

You may email patchworkuc@outlook.com or visit facebook.