FFA officers and qualifying teams attended the National FFA Convention and Expo attended workshops related to animal welfare, job skills, and leadership. The knowledge and experience gained was used to create activities and training for other FFA members, elementary students, and the community. We worked with other schools to host a county wide Living to Serve Day, taught students at SCES about Alabama agriculture, hosted a Chapter Leadership Day for all FFA members, and worked to rebuild our school animals pens that were damaged in last year’s tornado.
2023
Rebel Scientists
Students in grades K through 6 will actively investigate and collaborate with their peers as they dig deeper into science with these hands-on STEM units. Students will conducted investigations starting with the basics of science and then building and extending their knowledge as they dig deeper into these units. Teachers are also more prepared and confident as these kits provide all items needed to carry out this learning process instead of feeling overwhelmed.
Students explore specific topics and investigate processes. Students are given active hand on learning opportunities. Using what they have learned in the unit, students work together with their peers to implement solutions to a given problem.
Choctaw County Rescue Squad Safety Equipment 2023
This project is to better equip Choctaw County Rescue Squad with additional Safety Equipment. We need equipment to put adequate awareness on a traffic accident scene such as cones and bright flashing lights. We also need more technical equipment that will help us in locating a missing person at night. We never know when we will be called out at night to look for a lost person and we want to have the needed equipment that could reduce the time in the search.
Restoration of the Ackerville Baptist Church
The $10,000 grant from the RC&D Community Development Grant Program was used for the purposes of restoring the Ackerville Baptist Church, located in Wilcox County, AL. The historic Greek Revival church dates from 1848 and has been maintained by the Stuart family since it was relocated to Ackerville in 1886. The church and adjacent cemetery were individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Alabama Register of Historic Places in 2003 due to the importance of the architecture and contribution of the church to the overall history of Alabama.
In 2021, a tornado impacted the site and caused a large tree to fall into the church, severely damaging the structure. As a result, the Alabama Historical Commission listed the property on the 2022 Places in Peril. This annual list consists of historic structures and sites in Alabama that are in danger of being lost forever if immediate restorative action is not undertaken.
Grant funds were used to stabilize the structure, install a new roof, repair and replace wood siding, paint the exterior, restore original wood windows and doors, and repair brick piers. The project was a complete success and the material and labor costs were covered by a series of grants and matching funds.
Losing this importance architectural and cultural piece of Alabama history would had been a noticeable loss for not only Wilcox County but also for the entire state of Alabama. The repairs closely followed the design guidelines and standards as dictated by the Alabama Historical Commission and Department of the Interior to ensure the structure remains on the Alabama and National Register of Historic Places.
Marion-Perry County Library Utilities Grant
This grant was used to pay utilities for the Marion-Perry County Library. It paid approximately one half of the annual amount of utilities. By having this grant pay such necessities, it allowed us to use more of our budget for such things as children’s programming and new books. The library paid ATT, Alabama Power, Marion Water, Quick Books/Intuit, Jackson Security and Dex Imaging (Printer).