A rose to the students, staff and faculty of the Columbus Municipal School District which opened the school year Thursday, the first of the area school districts to begin classes. Reports from the first two days of the district’s modified school year indicated a high level of compliance with the safety measures implemented to guard against the spread of COVID-19. Students wore masks, practiced social distancing in smaller classrooms with few prompts from teachers and staff. Stokes-Beard principal Tanesha Jennings said the school had to provide masks to just two children. “The kids were very obedient,” she said. “It was obvious the parents did a great job talking to their children about what they needed to do.” Great job, kids. Keep it up!

 

A rose to the Columbus Soccer Organization for its plans to make the game available to special needs children ages 4 to 19. The Outreach Program for Soccer (TOP Soccer) is currently holding registration at area YMCAs and the Lowndes County Recreation Department through Sept. 4. The registration fees are being covered by 4-County Electric Power Association. Volunteers are being solicited and should make plans to attend a mandatory training session on Sept. 5 at the downtown YMCA. For further information, visit columbusmssoccer.org/topsoccer.

 

A rose to the Starkville Housing Authority and its partners Molina Healthcare and restaurant Where The Food At Starkville, for providing hot meals, along with a few other gifts, on Thursday at the restaurant. In addition to the hot meal, visitors received hand sanitizer, books bags and even a few toys. “With the shortage of food and unemployment on the rise, we just feel like providing hot meals because families and individuals have been affected by this pandemic with different hardships,” said Elnora Smith of Molina Healthcare. The event was certainly a pick-me-up for residents as the difficulties of COVID-19 persist through the summer.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.