SCHOOL NEWS
Love of music drives new BJH band director
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
Robert Frick has taken his love of music and for the past 22 years worked to instill that same joy in the young people he teaches.
Frick joined the staff of Bowie Junior High School this year arriving in Bowie from the Childress Independent School District where he was high school and junior high school director the past six years.
Born in Denver, CO, the 47-year-old grew up in Arkansas and Oklahoma primarily in the Norman area. After graduating from Little Axe High School, he attended Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, OK, where he earned his bachelor of music education in 1998 and his master’s of music in 2003.
As he considered a career Frick recalls he wanted to be an electrical engineer, but laughed physics was an obstacle so he turned to his love of music. During high school and college he took part in band and choir.
“In fifth grade I wanted to play the trumpet, but my parents could not afford it, so I went to the coronet. Later I switched to tuba in eighth grade. It was better than I thought it would be,” states Frick.
In college he loved to sing and says he was on his way to be an opera singer, but he talked himself out of it noting the hard work and discipline needed for that.
Read the full feature in the mid-week Bowie News.
SCHOOL NEWS
Bowie band competes, doesn’t advance; Nocona competes Saturday
Bowie High School’s Mighty Marching Maroon competed at regional marching contest last week, but unfortunately it did not advance.
Director German Torres said the students did very well and they were proud of their work this season. The band had advanced out of area from the weekend before.
“We came in 16th place (3A region) and the students were a little disappointed, but that is to be expected. We are now setting our sights on our Veteran’s Day program alongside the Christmas program,” said the director.
Nocona High School’s band will compete at area contest in Mineral Wells High School at 3 p.m. on Nov. 2.
The Pride of the Tribe is directed by Randy Brooks. Marching contests are open to the public to attend for an admission price of $5.
NEWS
Bowie school board has furry visitor
Bowie Independent School District Trustees were happy to meet a new canine friend at Monday’s school board meeting.
Bowie Elementary School principal Kathy Green brought her dog, Cooper, who volunteers his services two to three times a week at the school as a therapy dog to uplift spirits of both students and staff alike.
Cooper is a three-year-old Shih Tzu/Schnauzer mix who began training as an emotional support animal. He passed his canine good citizenship test in September and was certified as a therapy dog through the Bright and Beautiful Therapy dog organization.
“He’s working with kids in the morning who have separation anxiety and stuff like that and just helps calm them down a little bit,” Green said. “Some of my frequent fliers that have some self-regulation issues tend to calm down a lot faster if you promise them they get to pet the dog.”
Bowie High School principal Joanne Keeler presented a plan for her school to start an E-Sports Club, or a competitive video game team, with the goal to start competing in January after prepping all of this fall to try and get both interest and equipment up and running.
Kids would practice after school from 4:15-5 p.m. in a variety of games and genres. The competition would be through TexSEF, which is a teacher run Texas Scholastic E-sports organization.
While many in the room were a bit baffled at the prospect of kids playing more video games than they already do, several people pointed out how there are many scholarship opportunities for students in college as well as professional opportunities.
A short list of games potentially offered in the club are: Mario Kart Deluxe, Fortnite, chess, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Street Fighter 6, League of Legends, Splatoon, Rocket League and Overwatch 2.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
SCHOOL NEWS
Ground broken for Nocona HS new gym
The administration of Nocona Independent School District hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 18 for the first of four building projects funded through a $19 million bond approved last November.
Board President Greg Fuller brought the welcome as members of the board and Superintendent Dr. David Waters donned their Nocona orange hard hats for the event. They tossed shovels of dirt at the site of the future location of the new gym.
At its October meeting the school board issued orders to proceed with the construction of the new competition gymnasium. The groundbreaking was at the corner of East Cottonwood and Grayson Streets.
They were strong bids as Architect C.W. Farris, Harper Perkins Architects said the bid package was within half of a percent of the budget estimate. The total came in under the $300 per square foot figure they had been using in this process.
The gym plans also have been modified somewhat as it started out at 19,000 square feet and moved to almost 22,000 square feet after addressing perceived shortages in the original locker room plans.
A new career and technology education center will be next up for bid with plans projected to be done in November followed by going out for bids.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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