On Thursday morning of this week I had the pleasure of attending the Escambia Association for Administrators in Education end of year breakfast and awards ceremony. The EAAE gives an annual scholarship to a graduating senior who is entering the field of education. They also select an outstanding member of the year and recognize the members who are retiring. We had three Olive members on the list. They are Nancy Reese, Pat Reynolds and Denise Chapman.

The EAAE also gives the “Friend of Education” award. This year Olive Baptist Church was the honoree. A year ago some of our team reached out to partner with Ferry Pass Elementary School, located just a stone’s throw from our campus on Davis Highway. In addition to doing a campus clean up and providing back packs and other items to help students, we also got into the reading business. This was to help with FCAT scores. Huey Pearson and Sheila Reed lead out in this project. They enlisted volunteers who listened to students read on Wednesday evenings at the church. We provided a free evening meal and then had an hour of reading. Test scores have shown improvement and we built some great relationships with parents and students. Our goal is to serve in Jesus’ name and then find opportunity to engage families with the Gospel. We are seeing fruit. SERVICE WORKS!

One other thing we do is pray for the teachers by name on the first Tuesday of each month in our staff time. We then send a note of encouragement to a few of the workers. They have been very grateful. Principal Rhonda Shuford has become our good friend. We look forward to the 2009-2010 school year and the opportunity to partner with them once again.

Pastor Ted Traylor

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