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Lumberton High School cut the ribbon on its new Career and Technical Education Building, Thursday. Photo taken March 23, 2023. Photo by Olivia Malick/ The Enterprise
Photo by Olivia Malick/ The Enterprise

With more than 30 school districts in the region and at least twice as many individual schools, there's a lot of news that goes on every day.

And as much as I would love to, I can't get to all of it. But I want to share more of the exciting, positive things that are happening in our schools each week. People always tell me they want to read more "good" news. So, here's your chance.

This week I am starting my "Reporter's notebook" -- a weekly roundup of bits and pieces of education news going on around the region. Throughout the week, I will collect education-related news from local schools and highlight some of them here.

Without further ado, let's take a quick trip to Lumberton where an exciting unveiling happened Thursday night.

Lumberton opens new Career and Technical Education building

OK, I'm jealous. Thursday night, Lumberton ISD unveiled its high school's new Career and Technical Education building -- a two-story structure set to serve about 1,150 students.

Funded through a bond in 2019, the entire process took almost four years after being interrupted by COVID-19-related issues.

Featuring a commercial grade kitchen (with higher-quality equipment than I've seen in some restaurants), a café, a law enforcement simulation lab and an audio/visual production lab, among other offerings, this latest addition will give Lumberton students an opportunity to get a taste of various industries before they even graduate.

No doubt one of the best parts of my job is watching students see new their new facilities. And dozens of students showed up Thursday night to give tours of this new building.

A time capsule was put into the wall of the building to commemorate all the hard work and effort that went into building it. It holds more than 20 items including masks reflecting COVID-19-era living, a 2022 Lumberton High School yearbook and an iPhone (with its battery removed, of course).

It's set to be opened on the first day of school in 2072. If I'm still around then, I'll try to get some coverage of the opening of the capsule.

Here's a video of Superintendent Tony Tipton and Lumberton ISD maintenance staff putting the capsule in place with a commemorative plaque.

To see more inside the new state-of-the-art facility, don't forget to scroll through the photos above.

Jasper student earns big honor

I get a lot of emails -- most of them from firms trying to pitch me ideas about places and people that have nothing to do with Southeast Texas. But whenever Texas is mentioned in the email, I do my best to see if there's some relation to our area.

And that was how I found out Jasper High School student Kailey Washburn was a semi-finalist for the 2023 National Honor Society Scholarships. Chosen from thousands of applicants from across the country, Kailey will receive $3,200. She is the only Southeast Texas student amongst the hundred or so semi-finalists and finalists.

Reading her application for the scholarship, it's easy to see how she was chosen. She listed four advocacy and awareness activities she participates in, including CAST for Kids on Sam Rayburn, which provides disabled and special needs children the opportunity to enjoy fishing. She's also a longtime volunteer with wetlands and waterfowl conservation program Ducks Unlimited.

That is such a small portion of her 10-page application, but I think this last sentence of her essay sums up why she was chosen:

"Caring for those around me, motivating others, applying myself to continual growth and knowledge are irreplaceable attributes for developing into the future version of myself that I aspire to be."

Congrats to Kailey!

Have something education-related you'd like to share with me? Reach me at the email below.

olivia.malick@hearst.com

twitter.com/OliviaMalick