Featured photo: (L–R) Desert Valley teachers Stacie Mallinson (music), Karen Johnson (PE), Bailey Gonzalez (art), Sonyia Roy (library) and Lilijana Radic (STEAM). Elks Bullhead Exalted Ruler Walter Honse (center) and Lodge Secretary Kathy Honse (right) presented the $1,000 grant check in the Desert Valley lobby.
BULLHEAD CITY – The Arizona State Elks Association has donated $1,000 to Desert Valley School’s “Well Rounded Child” initiative. Desert Valley’s grant, through the Elks’ State Major Projects program, was vetted by officers at Bullhead City’s Elks Lodge 2408.
“This was a no-brainer,” said Bullhead Exalted Ruler Walter T. Honse, Jr., as he presented the check to five Desert Valley teachers whose programs will benefit.
Desert Valley’s grant was written to help students in five “well rounded” areas: art, library, music, physical education and STEAM (science/technology/engineering/the arts/math), also known as “specials.” Students who participate in these programs often do better in school, both academically and socially.
“We all work to help expose our students to a wide variety of experiences in an attempt to spark an interest in something that will help them grow,” said Sonyia Roy, Desert Valley’s library media specialist and gifted and talented education teacher, who also wrote the grant request. “Our specials are a place where our students do not have to worry about academic achievement or test scores, but can explore things they are interested in, learn new things, apply their skills in fun and inventive ways and have fun doing it.”
Desert Valley’s grant falls under a program launched more than 30 years go by the Arizona Elks Association and Arizona Elks Major Projects: the Steele Children’s Research Center at the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine. The Elks’ pediatric clinic sees over 65,000 children annually. Another major project is the Jack C. Warter Elks Youth Camp located northeast of Globe in the Sierra Ancha Mountains.
This month, the Elks Lodge will again support area students when it hosts its annual basketball free throw hoop shoot event. Students aged eight through 13 from BCSD and other area schools are eligible. The December 13 event will be held at the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Colorado River in Bullhead City. Winners of local, District and State competition vie for a chance at a national competition, where winners will have their names entered into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Additional information is available from Honse at 928-758-2408.
