Eighth grade graduation pictures will be Wednesday, May 6, at 10 am in the auditorium. Students will take pictures in their cap/gown alphabetically in 10-minute intervals and adhere to social distancing guidelines. Graduates who are giving speeches should come prepared to give those and have them recorded on video. We will release an alphabetical list the week before for students.
Today's Senior Spotlight is on Christopher Lopez!
Christopher is the son of Crystal Jefferson and Jose Lopez and the grandson of Ruthie and Jimmy Jefferson. Christopher has earned membership in the National Technical Honor Society and has been an active member of the FCCLA chapter and the Academic Team. After high school, Chris plans to attend KTC and train in the field of information technology, particularly routing/switching and cybersecurity.
Share and support our 2020 graduates!
Today's Senior Spotlight is on Trista Ober!
Trista is the daughter of Tommy and Dusti Ober and in her four years at Red Oak she has won three state softball championships, a vital member of the Lady Eagle team all three years. She has served on the yearbook staff and has been indispensable to the senior breakfast crew. In the fall, she will continue her education at Eastern Oklahoma State College where she plans to enter the nursing program.
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Today’s Senior Spotlight is on Grace Montgomery!
Grace is the daughter of Johnny and Leigh Montgomery and is a valedictorian of the Class of 2020. She has been a member of the varsity fast pitch and slow pitch softball teams (winning three state championships and earning fast pitch All-State honors) a state basketball runner-up, an archery state champion, a member of the Red Oak FFA chapter, a member of the speech/drama team, and a charter member of the Red Oak NHS Chapter.
Grace has received numerous scholarships for her college education, including the Carloyn Watson Oppurtunities Scholarship ($12,000 per year for four years), the NSU Valedictorian Scholarship, selection to the CASC Scholars Program, the Oklahoma Youth Expo Choctaw Nation Scholarship ($2500), and the Oklahoma Youth Expo Devon Energy ($1000).
Her plans are to attend NSU to pursue a Pre-Professional Health Degree with plans of becoming an optometrist.
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Today's Senior Spotlight is on Damien Holmes!
Damien, although fun-loving, ornery, and mischievous, is a very loyal young man who loves spending time with his family and friends. He is a very hard worker and can often be found fixing things up. Never idle, he ALWAYS has a project going. Damien has many interest, including hog hunting with his buddies, roping, and deer hunting.
Some of his favorite things are horses, Mexican food, and French onion dip (of which he has been seen buying in large quantities at a time). Damien was a member of the fall and spring state runner-up baseball team in 2016-17, a state runner-up in archery in 2017-18, and an archery state champion in 2019-20. He was a member of FFA all four years of high school and plans to continue his education next fall at Eastern Oklahoma State College.
Today’s Senior Spotlight is on Cadden Hardaway! Cadden is planning on attending KTC to obtain her phlebotomy certification and later the LPN program. “This quarantine hasn't really got her down too much,” her mom says, other than she can’t go out and eat or hang out with her friends. She enjoys binge-watching Netflix and working on her distance learning. “Cadden hasn't liked school from day one,” said mom, “and it has always been a chore to get her to go. Once in high school I'll never forget having to have Bob law escort her back to school because she decided to skip and go to the park, and I threatened to have him handcuff her the next time she was caught and bring her to her seat in class...I'm sure all her teachers know what I'm talking about when I say she was always late or always finding somewhere else to go. But she is truly gonna miss going to school and this isn’t how she pictured her senior year ending.”
Today’s Senior Spotlight is on Marissa Hill!
Marissa Hill is the daughter of Travis and Cheryl Hill. Marissa has been actively involved in FFA for all four years of high school, showing livestock and serving as the current FFA chapter president, and next year she plans to attend Eastern Oklahoma State College as an agriculture education major. Marissa has won countless livestock show awards at the local, county, and state levels.
Marissa has also served as senior class treasurer, yearbook editor, and senior breakfast chef!
Dear Seniors, Parents, and family,
I pray you are staying safe during this time of uncertainty. I'm sorry that things are turned upside down for you and your family during a time that is supposed to be joyous and memorable, but we are going to do our best for you to have a graduation of some sort.
Here's the plan: we will graduate on May 10th at 3:00 as planned. We will have you line up in your vehicles in front of the gym. A podium and outdoor sound system will be set up under the covered area of the gym. In groups of three or four (students we will coordinate the order a little later) you will come up and sit in chairs spread out at a safe distance. Speeches will be given by those who are to speak, and then that group will be announced and given their diplomas. They will then return to their vehicles, and the next group will come on "stage" repeating the same process, then the next. I will then present them as graduates and they will travel a specified route through town in Red Oak parade style!
We are asking that the parking area directly in front of the gym be left for immediate family, right behind the seniors. The rest of the parking lot may be used for visitors. The graduation will be live streamed for those unable to attend or for those waiting downtown. A senior video similar to the usual slide show is being prepared as well. We love you and care about you, and want you to have a memorable day even if it is unusual.
Sincerely,
Bryan Deatherage
Superintendent
SENIOR REMINDER: Cap/gown pictures are tomorrow, April 14, in the auditorium beginning at 10 am.
Seniors should adhere to the alphabetical schedule to ensure social distancing guidelines.
Today begins our Senior Spotlight, honoring the Class of 2020!
Brayden Allen hasn’t let the quarantine get him down. From daylight to dusk, Brayden is on a pond or pit bank enjoying some fishing. A love of the outdoors is something he and his Pa David shared. He is a state champion member of the Eagle Archery team and a key leader on the team for four years. After high school, he’s headed to KTC to obtain his HVAC license. His favorite words of wisdom come from his dad: “It is what it is.”
Share our Senior Spotlight each day and help us honor our graduates!
Tonight at 8:20 pm (20:20 in 24-hour time) we’ll be burning the lights of our baseball and softball fields to honor the Class of 2020. If you’re in town, take a video from your location and share it to support our seniors!
Locker clean out/book return schedules for all students.
Hilliary Communications is offering free wifi services to anyone with K-12 students now through July 1. Simply contact the main office (580.529.5000) and request a wifi box.
All students grades 7-12 with online access need to check Remind and Google Classroom before Monday, April 6, if they are not signed up for packets to finish the school year.
Athletic apparel has arrived! If you ordered baseball or softball apparel last month, it can be picked up Monday, April 6....softball pickup at 9 am, baseball at 10 am, both pickup locations at the new gym.
You can help us fill in some missing pages in our 2020 Eagle Yearbook! Send pictures of your kids and the activities they've been busy with lately and we'll include what we can in the yearbook...email pictures to kwhite@redoak.k12.ok.us or share them via Google Drive.
Group/athletic pictures that were taken March 4 cannot be processed because of photo lab closures due to COVID-19. If you ordered packages from these pictures, you will still receive those pictures once the labs re-open.
April carryout breakfast/lunch menus are now available!
A notice concerning OSSAA-sanctioned athletics and activities and COVID-19.
Dear Red Oak Family,
Yesterday we learned that Oklahoma students will not return to the classroom for the remainder of the current school year, following a vote by the State Board of Education. Instead, districts, including Red Oak, will implement continuous learning plans that will allow students to complete the school year at home. State education and health officials believe this move will help our state fight the spread of COVID-19.
We are sharing this information with you now so you can prepare accordingly for your family. We understand this change is in the best interest of everyone’s health, which is our greatest priority as a district. The state board’s vote also means that all extracurricular and special events will be canceled or postponed as well. Making these difficult decisions, we believe, is simply the right thing to do for our students, staff, and our community. That being said, we WILL have some form of senior graduation! We have been discussing ways to break it up numbers wise to comply with guidelines set forth. We will be meeting with senior officers next week in small groups or via teleconference to discuss ideas such as parking lot graduation, senior videos/DVD’s, live streaming, and/or parade style graduation. Prom can be postponed indefinitely…our current prom rules allow for “dates” to attend until they reach the age of 21, so a post graduate is able to attend a prom at a later date. Do to travel restrictions, senior trip looks as if it may not happen. We will be in discussion with our auditor on how to proceed with the funds that were raised.
There is good news: Red Oak is developing a plan to ensure your child will continue to have opportunities to learn and grow academically, especially with parental support. Because we are unable to safely gather together, these lessons will be delivered and communicated via several ways to fit your needs. Teachers will meet next week to choose the best delivery method based on their students. Forms of this may be through Google classroom, YouTube, Zoom, emails, and packets. We have a great staff that has already been working to contribute to this continuous learning plan. We appreciate their hard work, as well as our support staff who has cleaned, scrubbed, sanitized, etc. Our food service has worked hard to get everything in place for meal service which has already begun. Many state mandates have been waived such as testing, attendance, and certain curriculum mandates. We are still waiting on clarification if our last day will be May 5, or May 8.
Please continue to follow the CDC guidelines to protect yourself and your family. We will continue to communicate through our website, school Facebook page, Twitter, Remind, and via telephone. We are a community that sticks together in challenging times. As soon as we identify our next steps or gain more information we will share them with you. Let’s maintain our EAGLE pride in this unprecedented time!
Sincerely,
Bryan Deatherage
Superintendent