TEG
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
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PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING
FAMILY OWNED SINCE 1895
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Zoo receives Quarter-Century award
Good Evening
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Congratulations,
David Traylor Zoo.
WWW.EMPORIAGAZETTE.COM
Health
Center Staff
will deliver
babies
By Jessie Wagoner
[email protected]
By Brandy Nance
[email protected]
The David Traylor Zoo of Emporia has been honored for 25 or more
years of continuous accreditation.
The Association of Zoos and
Aquariums presented the zoo
with the AZA Quarter Century
Award “recognizing the David
Traylor Zoo of Emporia’s commitment to maintaining the
highest standards in animal
care, welfare, management, veterinary care, conservation, education, staffing, facilities, safety,
guest services, and more,” according to a press release.
The zoo was accredited for
the first time in 1985 and was
granted accreditation every
year following, said Lisa Keith,
zoo director. The zoo currently
houses several specimens in the
Species Survival Plan program
such as the Cotton-top Tamarin,
Black and White Ruffed Lemur,
Red-Collared Brown Lemur,
Ring-tailed Lemur, Eurasian
Black Vulture, Puma, Southern
Three-banded Armadillo, Common Spider Tortoises, Laughing
Kookaburra and Nene geese to
name a few, Keith said.
Please see Zoo, Page 5
Kendra Johnson/Gazette
The David Traylor Zoo was recognized with the AZA Quarter
Century Award by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The Board of Directors of the
Flint Hills Community Health Center bid farewell to 2015 at their last
meeting of the year on Tuesday.
A new development addressed at
the meeting was a “change in scope”
for the health center. The “change
of scope” would allow Dr. Amanda
Ruxton, who is employed at the
health center to deliver babies and
make rounds at Newman Regional
Health to provide care for those babies and their mothers.
“We had a grant back in September to expand our services,” Davis
said. “One of those was to get Dr.
Ruxton privileges at Newman Regional Health to deliver some babies
and round on pediatrics in the hospital there. We needed to be able to
make sure that was under our scope
of services.”
Ruxton is going through the
credentialing process at Newman
Regional Health now. The health
Please see FHCHC, Page 5
Second Emporia Teacher
Humane Society
Nominated for State Award decreases euthanization
Special to The Gazette
A second Emporia
teacher learned today she
is the district’s nominee
for Kansas Teacher of the
Year.
Ashlie Thomas, a language arts teacher at Emporia High School, will be
one of two teachers representing the district in
the state award program.
Janine Dorr, a special education teacher at Emporia
Middle School, also will be
a candidate.
The announcement was
made before school today
during a faculty meeting at
EHS. The Kansas Teacher
of the Year Program recognizes teachers who serve
as leaders in the profession
across the state. Nominees
are full-time classroom
teachers who have completed at least five years
in the classroom. Each
district may nominate two
teachers, one from the elementary (K-8) level and
one from the secondary
level.
Thomas has been a language arts teacher at EHS
since 2005; in 2008 she was
named the department
chair. She also teaches
college-level composition
at Flint Hills Technical
College. She started her
teaching career in 2001
after attending college in
California. She is currently working on a master’s
degree. She taught high
school language arts for
four years in California before coming to Emporia.
She summarizes her philosophy of teaching with a
sign on her classroom door
that reads, “When you enter this classroom, you are
composers. Your are scholars. You are readers. You
VOL. 124, NO. 144
are authors. You are analysts. You are important.
You are critics. You are the
future. You are preparing
for happiness. You are my
reason for being here.”
She writes, “Only
through communication
and rapport, through trust
and genuine mutual respect, can a classroom be
wholly successful.”
She continues, “Ultimately, my purpose here
is the students’ long-term
happiness. While that
long-term happiness may
require short-term setbacks, rejections, or doovers, it is always with that
goal of happiness in mind.
When the work is hard,
the sea boils with fury, the
clouds gather overhead,
and the students fail to
see the point in continuing their journey, I remind
them of the African proverb: ‘Smooth seas do not
make skillful sailors’.”
Teachers nominated
for KTOY awards become
part of a team of teachers
who represent excellent
teaching in the elementary
and secondary classrooms
of the state. Its mission
is to build and utilize a
network of exemplary
teachers who are leaders
in the improvement of
schools, student performance, and the teaching
profession.
The Kansas Teacher of
the Year Award is sponsored by the Kansas State
Department of Education.
Regional semifinalists will
be announced in each of
the four Congressional
districts next fall. The
2017 Kansas Teacher of
the Year will be named in
November 2016.
By Kerri Jackson
[email protected]
Kendra Johnson/Gazette
Ashlie, Steve, Rhiannon
and Rhys Thomas stand
for a family portrait on
Wednesday. Ashlie Thomas
is a language arts teacher
at Emporia High School
and was nominated for
Kansas Teacher of the Year.
Kendra Johnson/Gazette
Ashlie Thomas hugs her husband, Steve, after
it was announced that she was nominated for
Kansas Teacher of the Year on Wednesday.
The Humane Society
of the Flint Hills has experienced several improvements over the past year
to better provide for the
residing pets.
Improvements have
been targeted toward an
increase in foster homes
for animals waiting for
adoption, an increase
in the number of 7F