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.

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.

Both of Montague County’s High School marching bands performed well at Region Marching Contests on Saturday.
Bowie’s Mighty Marching Maroon and Nocona’s Pride of the Tribe both received all ones which is the highest standard scores a band can receive in the contest.
Bowie marched at the 3A Region Seven contest at C.H. Collins Stadium in Denton.
Director German Torres thought his kids showed up well on the biggest stage.
“It was the best performance they have had all year,” Torres said. “We are extremely proud of all of them and the efforts they continue showing.”
Bowie’s performance leans in the theatrical side of high school marching band.
The Mighty Marching Maroon’s program this year is called, “Mirror Mirror,” which has a storyline about an evil queen. The music played includes the songs, “Winter” by Vivaldi, “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica, “Toxic” by Brittney Spears and “You Should See Me in a Crown” by Billie Eilish.
It also is Bowie’s most expansive work in terms of visuals in recent years, with props including seven big trees, a big throne for soloists, a mirror and a large crown.
“We hope it works out and the audience can tell what story we are trying to tell,” Torres said.
It is the fifth consecutive year for Bowie to receive one’s at the marching contest.
Nocona marched at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls Saturday.
The Nocona director Randy Brooks thought his group did well, with them focusing in the past month to mentally get ready for the competition.
“We challenged the band members to “Embrace the Grind” over the last month,” Brooks said. “Students had to get comfortable with being uncomfortable during marching rehearsals held in the middle of the day. Weather this year has been brutal on the band but the students fought through it to bring a superior rating back to Nocona.”

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.