By Lynsi Musselman

The School Health Advisor Council, also known as SHAC, has postponed its dance-a-thon until the 2020-2021 school year.

School nurse and SHAC coordinator Lisa Russell said students should keep turning in  funds collected to their teachers during weekly packet pick-up. The individual top fundraisers will be named when school reopens next year.

“I am disappointed, but the event will for sure happen, and there will be lots of fun activities,” Russell said.

By Lynsi Musselman

The recent announcement that school will stay closed for the remainder of the school year keeps the virtual classroom evolving.

Local teachers, along with students across the state, continue to face challenges with this new way of learning and finding innovative ways to keep students engaged.

Middle school and high school math teacher Rick Davis said he has two classes that meet through Zoom every day. 

Zoom is a cloud-based service with content sharing and conference capabilities.

By Lynsi Musselman

The Feed Store put a twist on prom this year for Albany youth.

Feed Store director of ministries Kathryn Hamilton said the Monday night challenge was a “prom-posal” with a tacky prom theme.

The challenge was to dress in tacky prom clothes and submit a photo to the Feed Store Instagram account. Winners were selected and announced during Merge Live.

The “prom-posal” King and Queen are siblings Addi Asher and Bryce Asher.

Hamilton said the youth Merge program has transitioned to Merge Live because of the quarantine. 

By Lynsi Musselman

With government restrictions to meet as a large group for National Day of Prayer, all Albany churches will open their doors for individual prayer on Thursday, May 7, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

First Baptist Church minister Jeff Turner said people can come and pray without having a large gathering. 

“Those wanting to pray can come and go,” Turner said. “They can visit any church or more than one church that day.” 

Trinity Episcopal Church this month observes the 110th anniversary of the charter as an official congregation. 

On April 21, 1910, the Diocese of Dallas granted a charter as a mission church to the Episcopalians of Albany. There had been a small Episcopal congregation here as far back as the 1870s.

The local church had planned a special observance of this anniversary for its regular worship service on April 26, but that has been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 epidemic. On-site services are currently suspended until further notice.

By Lynsi Musselman

Parents who need to register their child in the Head Start program for the 2020-2021 school year  will need to pre-register online this year.

Parents of new and returning students must pre-register. This process is already underway. Parents can go to www.esc14.net/page/cyl_myheadstart%20application.com.  Required documents will be needed to fill out the pre-registration application. 

Region 14 will call all pre-registered applicants for an elgibility interview before an official enrollment packet is handed out.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Eight local senior athletes who were chosen earlier in the year to compete in the 2020 Big Country FCA All-Star Festival set for June received the news last week that the event has been cancelled due to due to ongoing concerns with the Coronavirus -COVID-19 pandemic.

The 21st annual FCA Festival was scheduled for June 7-13 at various locations around the Big Country, including Abilene, Brownwood, Eastland, and San Angelo.

By Lynsi Musselman

Albany High School’s Class of 2020 is missing out on many exciting events due to the coronavirus shutdown, and local parents and volunteers are stepping up to try to fill in some of the gaps. 

Last week, Tisha Wilkins organized a program called Adopt a Senior. The program matches someone from the community with one of the 41 graduating seniors.

“I saw this program done in another community, but this has an Albany spin on it,” Wilkins said. 

She said the first round of seniors to get adopted was successful. 

By Lynsi Musselman

Tyler Beard was named this week as Top Hand for 2020, and he and David Hardin were announced as winners of the first annual Shackelford County Youth and Livestock Association Memorial Scholarships. 

“Without a banquet this year, we notified the winners by phone,” said association president Bronco Askew. “Both Tyler and David are exceptional individuals and consistent with their intentions.”

Funds Needed

Askew also said that the SCYLA is still short on funds to cut checks for stock show exhibitors.

By Kathy Thomson

Communities across the country recognize those who help save lives in times of personal or national crisis during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, held April 12-18.

Shackelford County sheriff Ed Miller said that the work done by telecommunicators is very important, not only for those dialing 9-1-1, but also for him and other first responders.

“They’re the first person contacted by those calling in for help, and they are our life-line when we are on a call,” the sheriff said, “We depend on them.”