Mud & Magnolias August 2020

Mud&Magnolias October. 2020 November 2013 August

the back to SCHOOL issue

Sheet Pan Dinners DIY Desk Organizer Oxsicles Senior Advice Back-to-School Fashion Kid’s Rooms in Oxford Lynlee g. Candles Teacher Profiles

CONTENTS

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52 29 20

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RECIPES

We know that as summer comes to a close, easy recipes are a necessity, no matter what the school year may bring. We stuck to easy sheet-pan dinners and a no-bake dessert to make your weeknights a breeze.

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PREPARING FOR THE 202021 SCHOOL YEAR

We sat down with school leaders across the northeast region to bring you what you need to know about sending your little ones back into the classroom.

OXSICLES

Oxsicles is a sweet popsicles staple, and makes for a great after-school snack (that’s healthy, too!).

ALSO:

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TEACHER/ ADMINISTRATION PROFILES

We reached out to teachers and administrators across the region to highlight what they love most about their work.

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LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL DOWN IN OXFORD

August 2020

The Arceneauxs moved back to Oxford in 2017, and since then have made their house just right for their family’s needs. The kids’ rooms are particularly fun.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL FASHION

Retailers predict this year’s hottest trends to make your student the coolest kid in the school.

ON THE COVER Desks might look a little different this year, but the beauty of learning remains.

Watch our interview with Teacher of the Year Hannah Gadd Ardery at mudandmag.com.

SENIOR ADVICE COLUMNS

COLUMN: CHILDRENS’ HEALTH IN A PANDEMIC

BACK-TO-SCHOOL ESSENTIALS

LYNLEE G. CANDLES

DIY DESK ORGANNIZATION

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ravel is something I look forward to each year.

Whether it is a relaxing week at the beach or a weekend trip to watch the Rebels play, I am always planning for our next adventure.

This year, travel looks different to my family and others.

Many of us are not venturing far, but still have the itch to get out of the house. We decided to focus our travel edition more on exploring some of the wonderful things north Mississippi has to offer.

I’m excited to take a hike through some of the beautiful state parks in the area this summer. We feature a few of them beginning on page 35. While they all offer the opportunity to explore the great outdoors, some allow you to make a weekend of it. Use some of our glamping tips (page 23) to take your tent to the next level.

Hit the pavement riding your bike on the Tanglefoot Trail and enjoy the evening at Trailhead Bike and Bed (page 43). The new Houston spot is perfect for cyclists or just a summer stay-cation. They have plenty of outdoor areas to relax and enjoy a summer evening.

When you want to cool off, the best way to beat the summer heat is an ice cream treat. Throughout north Mississippi there are many wonderful places to stop and snack. I am excited to try a few from our ice cream trail (page 53) this summer. The over the top floats from Saxon’s and Magnolia Creamery are at the top of my must try list.

Enjoy north Mississippi this summer — there’s plenty to get out and explore.

1242 S Green St. Tupelo, MS 38804 662.842.2611

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sarah Brooke Bishop

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Lindsay Pace Kristina Domitrovich

FEATURED SALES CONSULTANTS Leigh Knox June Phillips Nick Boone Angie Quarles Tyler Vuncannon Teresa McDonald Shelley Ozbirn Darla Webb

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Blake Alsup Emily Pettit Laura Walker Dontavius Webb

subscriptions@mudandmag.com advertising@mudandmag.com info@mudandmag.com mudandmag.com This magazine is a monthly publication of Journal, Inc.

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RECIPES

Weeknight Sheet-Pan Dinners

Steak Pan Dinner recipe on pg. 20

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RECIPES

Turkey Melt with Dijon Aioli recipe on pg. 20

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RECIPES One-pan lemon-pepper sausage recipe on pg. 21

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RECIPES Sheet-pan ranch pork chops with roasted potatoes and onions recipe on pg. 21

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RECIPES Sweet chili salmon with roasted peppers and cilantro-lime rice recipe on pg. 21

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RECIPES

No-bake cheesecake with strawberry compote recipe on pg. 21

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RECIPES

STEAK PAN DINNER

TURKEY MELT WITH DIJON AIOLI

Ingredients: 1 head of broccoli 3 yellow squash, sliced 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 2-pound sirloin steak 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce 2 garlic cloves, minced 1/2 lemon, juiced 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes Fresh Italian parsley

Ingredients: 6 slices of sourdough or Italian bread 18 slices oven-roasted turkey 9 slices of provolone cheese For the dijon aioli: 1/2 cup mayonnaise 2 heaping tablespoons country dijon mustard 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 tablespoon black pepper 1/2 teaspoon paprika Pinch of salt

Directions: In a large bowl, combine the soy sauce, garlic, lemon juice and chili flakes.

Slice the sirloin in diagonal strips, about 3/8-inch thick. Place the steak cuts into the marinade, and marinate for at least 30 minutes, but up to two hours. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a large baking sheet, line one third with broccoli florets; and line another third with squash. Evenly drizzle olive oil over the vegetables. Sprinkle broccoli and squash with garlic and onion powders, salt and pepper. Line the remaining third of the baking sheet with the steak (holding back the majority of the marinade). Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the steak reaches desired doneness. Garnish with chopped parsley.

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Directions: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the dijon aioli until combined. Lather generously on all six slices of bread. On three slices of bread, top with three slices of cheese; on the remaining bread, top with six slices of turkey. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Place the cheese-covered bread on top of the turkey, slice in half, and serve immediately.

RECIPES ONE-PAN LEMON-PEPPER SAUSAGE Ingredients: 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved 2 zucchini, sliced 1 medium yellow onion, cut into wedges 2 bell peppers, seeded and roughly cut 1 12-ounce kielbasa sausage, sliced 1/4 cup olive oil 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon lemon pepper seasoning Salt and pepper to taste Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, garlic and seasonings until combined. On a large baking pan, combine all the vegetables and sausage. Drizzle with the oil mixture, and toss until evenly coated. Bake for 30 minutes, or until sausage has browned.

SWEET CHILI SALMON WITH ROASTED PEPPERS AND CILANTRO-LIME RICE Ingredients: 4 salmon fillets 2 bell peppers, roughly cut 2 limes, juiced 2 garlic cloves, minced 1/2 cup sweet red chili sauce 1 tablespoon honey For the rice: 1 cup white rice 2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup chopped cilantro 1 garlic clove, minced 1 lime, juiced

1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon salt Fresh Italian parsley

Directions: Cook the rice as directed by the packaging, substituting the water with chicken broth. Reposition the oven’s rack to the top slot, begin preheating the broiler and line a baking sheet with foil. Whisk the lime juice, garlic, sweet red chili sauce and honey until combined.

On a large baking pan, place the salmon on half the sheet; place the peppers on the other half.

Heavily coat the salmon in the sauce, and lightly drizzle over the vegetables. If there is any left over, save it for later. Broil for about 10 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through. While the salmon is cooking, add lime juice, garlic and cilantro to the rice, and fluff with a fork until combined. Create a bed of rice on the plate, top with a salmon fillet, paired with the bell peppers, and drizzle with remaining sauce; garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

Directions: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

On a large baking pan, rub half the ranch panket into the pork chops; flip and repeat with the remaining packet. Scoot pork chops to one side of the pan. In a large bowl, toss the potatoes, onions, olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper until evenly coated. Pour onto the other half of the pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender and the pork is cooked through. Top with freshly chopped parsley.

SHEET-PAN RANCH PORK CHOPS WITH ROASTED POTATOES AND ONIONS Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds golden baby potatoes, washed and halved 1 onion, cut into wedges 4 pork chops (bone-in, rib chops) 1 1-ounce package of ranch dip seasoning mix 1/4 cup olive oil 1 teaspoon garlic powder

NO-BAKE CHEESECAKE WITH STRAWBERRY COMPOTE Ingredients: For the crust: 12 ounces graham crackers 1 1/2 sticks butter, melted 2 tablespoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt For the filling: 16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk 1/2 lemon, juiced and zested 1 teaspoon vanilla For the compote: 2 cups strawberries, diced 1/2 lemon, juiced 2 tablespoons sugar Directions: For the crust: In a food processor, pulse the graham crackers, sugar and salt until a fine crumb is formed, about 2 minutes. While blending, slowly pour in the butter until combined. Dump contents out into a 9-inch springform pan. Use the bottom of a glass to press the crust down (pushing the crust halfway up the pan’s sides) until secured. For the filling: Use the paddle attachment of a stand or hand mixer to beat the cream cheese until just softened; use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides. With the mixer on, begin pouring in the sweetened condensed milk very slowly, followed by lemon and vanilla. Beat on high for 5 minutes, or until it appears significantly thicker. Pour into the crust, smooth and refrigerate for at least four hours, but preferably overnight. For the compote: In a medium pot, combine all the ingredients and stir. Bring to a light simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally for five minutes.

Reduce the heat to low, and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes, or until desired consistency is achieved (it will thicken slightly as it cools); remove from heat and cool completely. Assembly: Remove the sides of the springform pan, top with strawberry compote, slice and serve. M

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Preparing for the 2020-21 School Year

by BLAKE ALSUP photos by LINDSAY PACE

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s children in Northeast Mississippi return to school for the first time since mid-March, when buildings closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, things will be different when they walk through the doors.

From daily temperature checks to eating lunch in the classroom, children will have a lot of changes to adjust to.

Most districts in our area will require masks in some capacity while children are at school, and those that do have indicated that masks will be provided for their students.

In the Corinth School District, masks will be required any time social distancing is not possible, like walking in the hallway or while riding the bus. The district will provide two cloth facemasks for each student to wear when needed, and they will take them home where parents will be encouraged to wash them regularly.

CSD Superintendent Lee Childress said that while masks will not be required in classrooms where students can properly social distance, “if a parent chooses for their child to wear a mask all the time, we’re certainly going to respect the parent’s wish and the child’s wish.”

Other districts will take the same approach.

One creative option to keep a child’s mask clean, and avoid laying it on a table or stuffing it into a pocket, is to attach it to a lanyard

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where it can easily be unclipped for use throughout the day.

While students in the New Albany School District will be encouraged rather than required to wear masks, Superintendent Lance Evans said it’s a good idea for parents to go ahead and begin practicing with younger children. Parents can help acclimate their student to wearing a mask and explain to them why they should wear a face covering, wash their hands frequently and practice social distancing.

It’s important to remain flexible as school starts back. Every backto-school plan will vary as districts try different approaches to reopen, like South Tippah School District, which will operate on a hybrid schedule for the first week and a half when school resumes on Aug. 5, with girls and boys attending on alternate days before returning to a traditional schedule with all students present five days per week starting Aug. 17.

Meanwhile, Corinth will group children in kindergarten through sixth grade with the same classmates they had during the previous school year, with a few minor modifications, in an attempt to make them feel more comfortable as they return to a traditional five-day per week schedule on July 27.

Students and parents should embrace technology going into the

“As educators, we become fixated on straight rows, 1950s-60s style education, but the reality is that we have to be flexible and adaptable.”

TODD ENGLISH

2020-21 school year, as it will play a major role regardless of whether learning takes place in the classroom or online.

Local districts will use a large portion of their allotted Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief Fund and other CARES Act funds to improve technology in the classroom and distance learning capabilities. That means if a school district wasn’t already one-to-one, meaning it has a laptop or tablet device for every student, it likely will be this year.

For example, STSD will purchase devices for each of its students K-12 and incorporate a new learning management system, Canvas, for regular use in the classroom. Having the devices and software on hand and in regular use will make any potential transitions to virtual learning during the fall semester seamless, according to STSD Superintendent Tony Elliott.

But bumps in the road, including occasional school closures, will likely occur during the fall semester.

Tupelo Public School District Superintendent Rob Picou has repeatedly said intermittent closures are to be expected. And in its 202021 reopening blueprint, TPSD said the superintendent may be required to close a school or multiple schools due to potential outbreaks.

Superintendents across Northeast Mississippi agree that uncertainty is the biggest challenge they have faced throughout the pandemic, and particularly while planning to reopen.

Evans said there’s a constant changing of information that makes planning difficult,

especially with a wide array of things to plan for — students’ social and emotional needs, special accommodations some students receive, extracurricular activities, etc.

School begins on Aug. 6 for New Albany students, and the district waited until early July to solidify and release its reopening plan because of safety guidance from state and federal agencies changing daily.

“We said, ‘Let’s let it change as much as it’s going to change until we can’t wait for it to change anymore,’” Evans said. “That’s been the most difficult part.”

Local schools will continue to apply lessons learned during the spring semester as they reopen in August.

Booneville School District Superintendent Todd English said the most important lesson learned was that “there’s more than one way to educate a student.”

“As educators, we become fixated on straight rows, 1950s-60s-style education, but the reality is that we have to be flexible and adaptable,” English said.

English said the bottom line is doing what’s best for the student in whatever situation there is, with whatever resources are available.

That’s how all teachers, staff and school administrators made it through the 2019-20 school year, and it’s how they will approach the upcoming school year as well. M

Previous Page: Sean Sword, right, and his cousins show off their new masks. They said they are excited to wear them at school this year. The youngest, center, is especially happy his mask features sea turtles. Top, left to right: Alongside typical school essentials are new requirements, like masks. Above: Siblings Robbie Ruth and Jones Webb said they are excited for school. Robbie Ruth will begin preschool, while Jones will enter second grade.

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Senior Advice

Invest in Yourself by

DONTAVIUS WEBB Dontavius graduated with special honors as a Hall of Fame member from Lafayette High School. He will pursue Aerospace Engineering at Mississippi State University in the fall.

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hese days no one gets to the top alone without a little advice from those who came before them. Whether you’re a freshman ready to start your high school career or a senior about to finish, this year brings excitement and fear.

No matter what your brain tells you, you are ready to endure what this year brings. The fruits of your labor will pay off, which Class of 2021 is close to seeing come true. After three years of high school, they are finally approaching the year that will

solidify all the hard work put in.

When my senior year began, I was swamped with the thoughts of the future and the needs to secure what I desired, however, I wish I had known that I would be worrying about things that were temporary. Though my future is important, those days I spent worrying could’ve been put to use better, like enjoying the last few days of my high school career.

I think back to freshman year and I remember there were so many things I wish I had known.

Coming into high school means that there is more at stake with each class. Whether it’s an elective you need to graduate or a core class like Algebra 1, you have options with remarkable consequences. If you brush it off and coast by without actually giving it a chance, you risk more than just one little grade on your report card. This is the beginning of your GPA formation, meaning every class, every grade, every part of it means more than what the actual eye sees. It’s what colleges are going to look at to determine if you’re the right one for their campus.

We all know that college isn’t the only thing life has to offer, though, so you’re probably wondering why that’s all people are talking about, but there’s a reason for this. No matter if you go to college, the work force, trade school, or wherever you see yourself fitting best, the work ethic gained from actually holding yourself accountable in school is what will get you where you need to be. Yeah, math tests can be hard and require more than just sitting in class listening to the sound of pencils moving, writing down formulas, equations and anything else relevant to the course, but your decision to actually give it your best shot and do what you need in order to succeed makes you a candidate for much more than just star student. It gives you the chance to invest in your own future, which means that the legacy you will live is because you chose yourself in a time that was important.

The future of your life depends on what you decide is important right now. This may sound overwhelming, especially considering the fact that at this time you’re juggling your studies and your social life, but it serves best to find a group of people who share your goals and aspirations.

Your friends are the ones who will help keep you on your toes in times of trouble. With them being your central basis on and off campus, you have to watch the company you keep. Your future is way too important to throw it away on people who don’t care about their future, let alone yours.

Grades aren’t the only important part in securing your future. Try new things and find your passions.

It never hurts to explore new avenues in order to expand your chances at success. The chances are endless, once you find your niche. No matter where you fit in, there are always places for you in society that can take you far beyond your wildest dreams. High school may not be the easiest thing to navigate but at the end of the day your future is what matters. Apply for those scholarships early, listen in class, do what is best for your future because the only person you have forever is yourself. Always invest in yourself. Remember, to succeed, you have to choose yourself now. M

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by KRISTINA DOMITROVICH | photos by LINDSAY PACE

: t a e h e h t t a e ood treat to b

a feel-g A

OXSICLEs POPSICLEs

week before “the entire country shut down,” Elizabeth Speed signed the papers and became the new owner of Oxsicles, an Oxford popsicle staple since 2017. While the business usually thrives on outdoor events in the area like Double Decker and Watermelon Carnival, Speed had to adapt. Luckily, the previous owner, Lauren Klimetz, set her up for success and taught her everything she learned in her years owning the company.

Speed has five year-round coolers throughout Oxford, Houston, Corinth and New Albany, and has been able to set up at farmer’s markets throughout the summer — just in time to help her customers try to beat the heat.

Equipped with a cookbook of about 50 popsicle recipes, Speed tries to keep 10 flavors on rotation, and uses seasonal, local produce whenever possible. The 10 flavors she chooses depend on what’s available.

“When I can get local peaches, local watermelon, local blueberries, I do those flavors,” she said. “But then I can also freeze peaches, blueberries, watermelon … then continue to make it after the season has passed.”

Speed uses honey, agave or coconut sugar for her popsicles,

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so processed sugars never touch her product. They’re also free from preservatives and dyes, are gluten-free, and most are dairy free (though some flavors contain yogurt, but will be specified).

Being able to stand behind her product is important for Speed, who became a Food Corp Service Member in 2016. As a part of the program, she went into the school districts to teach kids about choosing healthy foods, gardening, cooking and nutrition. Eventually, she would even teach youth cooking classes for a stint through the Oxford Park Commission. For a food that’s so often marketed toward children, she said it’s important to her that it’s a healthy treat.

“We have a lot of children who enjoy our popsicles,” she said.

“Because (the popsicles are) all natural and they’re sweetened with non-refined sugar, it’s a healthy treat that they can enjoy without the parent or the caregiver feeling guilty for giving them a sweet treat when they get home from school or if they have a sore throat.”

Oxsicles even looks out for its four-legged friends, as their “pupsicle” is solely comprised of peanut butter, bananas and a non-rawhide chew.

Previous page: Children enjoy various flavors; Speed recently worked with Oxford’s City Aldermen in order to do pop-up stands in neighborhoods about town. Top: Speed bags peach-flavored popsicles containing local peaches, coconut milk and local honey. She said each popsicle ends up containing about two teaspoons of honey. Right: Elizabeth Speed. Bottom right: Speed uses a ROBOPOP to freeze the popsicles. Once she has poured the liquid into the molds and placed the wooden sticks in, the machine will stream very cold water all around the mold, freezing the popsicles in seven-10 minutes.

“I know that it’s made with good-quality, natural ingredients, so that I feel good about what I’m giving people,” Speed said. “That’s been nice to be able to make people happy, especially in this time where (everything’s) a little bit upside down.”

Speed is a mother of two sons, 9 and 12, who get to be her taste testers. She joked that it’s “a very hard job” for them. Speed uses fruits and vegetables for coloring (spinach is the colorant for the green apple popsicle), and said it’s a great way to potentially slide by kids’ prenotions about vegetables.

“It’s not to be sneaky, because I tell my kids what’s in it,” she said.

“But children who may have an aversion to certain vegetables or fruit, still have a healthy treat and it’s just kind of a good way to get in the little extra nutrition.” M

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We chatted with a few public school teachers and administrators in Northeast Mississippi to get their thoughts on the upcoming school year, life in the classroom and their careers.

by KRISTINA DOMITROVICH | Tony Elliott profile by BLAKE ALSUP | photos by LINDSAY PACE

administration profile

Marsha Hillhouse

| Pontotoc Elementary School • Pontotoc |

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eading into her 21st year in her career of education, Marsha Hillhouse will tackle her first year as principal of Pontotoc Elementary School. After three years of being assistant principal at Pontotoc Junior High School, and 11 years of teaching there before that, she said she’s excited to handle the new responsibilities and to engage with younger students.

She said she always knew she would become a teacher — she spent her summers playing school with her sister in their grandmother’s carport, or walking to the library and reading endlessly — though she didn’t make a beeline for the classroom right out the gate.

Initially, she tried anatomy and physiology studies, but quickly learned through a few hand injuries her husband suffered, that it wasn’t for her.

“I was like, ‘No, I hear you Lord. This is — yeah, I’m not doing this,’” she laughed. “From then, I was just like, ‘Okay, teaching — got to go where I’ve always wanted to go.’”

So she did. Along the way, she surprised herself by taking the steps to transition from being a teacher to taking on an administrative role.

She said the inkling came when she started “doing consulting work for the CP of Education with item-writing for our state assessment, and I kind of saw where other teachers could be my students.”

“I kind of never thought I would leave the classroom. I love my students, love the kids and thought that I would spend my whole career there,” she said. “That kind of opened my eyes to another way that I could serve even more students. Because if I’m helping teachers, that’s reaching students in many, many districts in our state.”

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With the COVID-19 pandemic, this new principal’s getting her hands dirty early on.

As a part of the precautionary measures she’s implementing in her school, Hillhouse is amending the students’ activity calendar. Instead of swapping classrooms each day to go to different activities, students will now do that activity for three weeks, which Hillhouse says will limit contact and be beneficial in the long run, before moving on to the next.

“That way, teachers can really learn those kids and teach them a whole unit before they go to their next activities,” she said. “(They) can really focus on units and music and art and library and P.E.” She’s also excited to implement the district-wide grant that will allow PES to purchase STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) kits for the younger students, so they can begin learning vocabulary and experiments at a far earlier age.

“At the lower grade, science and social studies almost kind of get put to the back burner because you’re so focused on reading and language and math,” she said. “Hopefully (it will) peak some interest at an early age.”

For Hillhouse (she and her husband, knowing they would want to have a large family of four, chose to move to Pontotoc specifically for the school district), positivity is the key to get through anything.

Her mantra in her classroom and even now is: “We as teachers and students may make mistakes, but an important thing for us all to know is that mistakes are okay, they’re going to happen. But tomorrow’s a new day.”

teacher profile

Hannah Gadd Ardery | Lafayette High School • Oxford |

Watch us chat with Ardery at mudandmag.com.

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n 2019, at the age of 28 and at the end of her fourth year teaching, Hannah Gadd Ardery was awarded Mississippi’s Teacher of the Year. The process requires a nomination from fellow teachers at her school, Lafayette High School in Oxford, before being chosen from the district level. Then comes the hard part: the essays. Ardery (then Gadd) said it was probably 28 pages total, ranging from a biography, to multiple essays about life in the classroom.

From there, four teachers are chosen across the state, and invited to an awards ceremony where the winner is revealed in front of district educator and administrative winners, totaling about 500, according to Ardery.

“No one ever goes into teaching to win the awards or to get paid a lot,” she said. “I never ever in a million years ever thought that I would be teacher of the year for my school.”

Ardery grew up in Amory, and was Mississippi-public educated from kindergarten until the end of her master’s degree, and saw public education in Mississippi is something she’s really passionate about. Though initially, she tried to fight the path leading to teaching. Coming from a family of teachers — ranging from her mother, all of her cousins and now her husband, too — initially, she wanted to do something to break the mold. She spent her freshman year at the University of Mississippi as a biology major. Unhappy, she realized the one thing that’s been a constant in her life and ran with it: music.

“The only thing I could think of that I would even remotely want to do is be around music. I’d always loved leading things and being a leader, and teaching,” she said. “Music was my outlet; it gave me a voice when I didn’t know how to speak, it gave me a way to show people how I was feeling and it gave me a way to (bring) positive energy into my life every single day.”

Ardery — a self-proclaimed “product of the ‘90s; like golden age of Disney and the golden age of all things pop music; I mean, Britney (Spears) was and still is my queen” — said she was very shy growing up. When her mother, a music teacher, put on programs, Ardery said she remembers hiding underneath the piano. Eventually, she became more and more outgoing, and she credits music for that. Now, she’s seeing the same evolution with her students.

“They come in painfully shy and (then) their parents are like, ‘What did you do to my child? How do I turn it off?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, you opened Pandora’s box, Boo,’” she said laughing. “It’s amazing how transformative music can be. It’s where a lot of my students make their best friends; it’s where a lot of my students understand perspectives of

people that they’ve sat next to since kindergarten.”

Helping students gain perspective and grow as people is part of what drew her to the job in the first place.

“I could help people not just learn music, but also help them learn to be good people,” she said. “Getting to be their counselor, their nurse, their second parent, their cheerleader, or getting to be the person that they invite and save seats for at football games. That’s something that you can’t really describe to someone. It’s one of the most rewarding professions in the world.”

She teaches a broad range of students, sixth through 12th grade choir, high school music history and dual-credit music appreciation. Because some of the sixth-graders she taught her first year of teaching are now upcoming juniors, she said she’s in a unique position where she gets to see these kids “pre-braces, post-braces, first boyfriend, first breakup — I get to see them grow up.” Through the years, Ardery works to instill and equip her students with the skills to succeed in the classroom, but also in life.

“Until you intentionally include, you unintentionally exclude, and they really understand that and they understand the value of loving each other,” she said. “That makes me really proud every day to see them encouraging one another.”

Due to the Teacher of the Year award, which Ardery said is both an award and a job, she spent a lot of time out of her classroom in the spring of 2020 being a keynote speaker, giving a TED Talk and doing other things like touring Google’s Headquarters, “Like what the heck? How did this happen to me?” she expressed. She’s particularly eager and hopeful to return to teaching this fall. While she doesn’t miss cleaning her classroom, she misses everything else about being in school. She said she misses her students, “I miss sassiness,” and even misses forgetting her lunch (though she said she doesn’t miss the bane of every teacher’s existence: taking attendance). She said she misses her students’ enthusiasm in the classroom and in their own work, the moment they show pride in their work.

“I have lots of kids, they’ll say, ‘Look what I drew,’ or, ‘Look what I made on my math test,’ or, ‘I wrote this song, can I play it for you?’ ‘Like, yes!’” she returns. “That is amazing, because to me, that’s not them saying, ‘Look what I can do, aren’t you proud of me?’ That’s them saying, ‘Look, I’ve made myself proud by what I can do,’ and it’s getting them to see what they can do, and not what they could do or what they can’t do — that’s one of my favorite things.”

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administration profile

Jason Arledge

| Shannon High School • Shannon |

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oming up on his 20th year in education and his third year as the principal of Shannon High School, Jason Arledge is preparing for a lot of things to look different this year. Aside from welcoming nine new faculty members (most seasoned teachers and seasoned coaches) onto his staff — which he calls “the lifeblood of our Red Raider family, they are the heartbeat; and it is a joy every day to go to work with them” — the COVID-19 pandemic has posed a slew of new challenges. Of those at SHS polled, Arledge said 25-30% responded that they would prefer distance learning to start the school year.

For this, and with various district, state and national guidelines, Arledge and his staff have had to reorganize the schedule — dropping from five and a half hours, to four hours of instructional time. Arledge and his staff spent weeks trying to find a balance between instructional time and the time teachers need to plan both in-class and now virtual assignments and teachings. But if there’s one skill educators have flexed during this pandemic, it’s their flexibility.

When Arledge first learned students would not be returning for the remainder of the school year in spring 2020 due to COVID-19, he and the graduation committee “continually worked to make sure we could do everything possible to celebrate the accomplishments of our class of 2020.”

On the night of the scheduled graduation, SHS hosted a candlelight ceremony to still bring the deserved attention to the graduates. By the end of June, the school had held seven different graduation ceremonies — four for individuals who could not attend the group ceremonies, and three 40-student ceremonies determined by alphabetical order.

“It worked out really well because it provided that balance of minimizing the risk due to COVID,” he said, “while at the same time, allowing immediate family members to participate and attend the ceremony of their graduate.”

Arledge, a Class of ’97 Red Raider himself, “made the long way around (to make) it back home,” and spent the earlier years of his career teaching math classes and coaching basketball. He started his career out in Mississippi, went over to Georgia, with a pit stop in Alabama before he circled back into Mississippi.

Along the way, he “felt that God was leading me off the gym

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floor, and into a new challenge.”

Eventually, in 2018, after earning his doctorate from the University of Mississippi, he was brought on to SHS as principal.

“I honestly didn’t think that I would ever be in this position,” he said. “The chance to come home, and not only work with our young people, but to be in a position of leadership in my hometown, the place I grew up and currently reside, (it’s) the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Though things may look different this year, his advice to students remains the same.

“The tip I would give (students) would be the same as any other year,” he said. “Find your passion, find your purpose. Find what it is that pushes you to succeed and don’t lose sight of that, regardless of what goes on with the circumstances surrounding you — whether it be pandemic-related or otherwise. Don’t lose sight of the passion that you have for what you do, and the purpose you have for being at school.”

As for parents, with two of his own children attending his high school, he encourages them to “get involved and stay involved, because the only way we’re going to figure out the best solution for our children is to work together.”

administration profile

Valerie Weivoda | Lee County Schools |

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s a registered dietitian nutritionist and the Director of Child Nutrition for Lee County Schools, Valerie Weivoda knows the importance of ensuring children have food.

“They can’t learn if they’re not fed,” she said.

Though her job duties change practically every day — if equipment breaks down, she and her team must go into crisis mode to ensure food is still served — and she says “we do everything that you can and cannot imagine,” the main goal is always the same: feed the students.

“Our main goal is to feed every child in the district that needs a meal,” she said.

So when they learned students would not return from spring break in March of 2020, her team kicked it into turbo mode to make sure students’ needs were still met.

“It was very much a very quick hustle,” she said. “We just quickly had a meeting with all of our team and we got together, ‘Kids need to be fed, how can we make it happen?’ So we implemented a drive-though, graband-go station.”

The stations, which could be visited every Monday and Wednesday, were at six of the 11 schools in the district. Parents could grab a bag containing a free breakfast and lunch to last their children until the next pickup. It was free for every child in the car, so long as they were 18 or younger, and they didn’t have to be students in the Lee County School district. No questions asked. Between March 23 and June 30, with the help of staff and volunteers, they distributed over 135,000 meals.

Amidst a pandemic or not, one of Weivoda’s biggest concerns is to ensure her program is run like a business, because that’s exactly what it is.

“We very much operate like any other food service would,” Weivoda

said. “We have to think about it all — everything that relates to financial budgeting and operational budgeting for the success of our program.”

From personnel training and management, to food and supply purchasing and budgeting, Weivoda is hands-on every step of the way.

She also creates the menus, which she said is probably one of the more fun elements of her position. With multiple moving pieces, she must find a menu that: meets “federal meal pattern regulations,” doesn’t break the budget and, perhaps most importantly, serves students food they will want to eat.

This year, she wants to gravitate toward including more scratch cooking in the menus. She said it’s something the students enjoy, and it’s something the parents can feel good about.

“We want it to be nutritious,” she said. “We want to teach them good lessons about eating, and eating healthy in the cafeteria.”

For teaching those healthy eating habits, there are a few programs Weivoda has secured to make sure it happens. One of which is the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. This grant allows elementary schools to offer each student an extra serving of a fresh fruit or vegetable. With it, there will often be a discussion tacked on in the classroom.

“We may give the teacher information about the produce of the day, so they can talk to their students about it,” she said. “It could be something like an apple and how apples are grown and what nutrients they provide, and how you eat them and how they can be prepared.”

While Weivoda and her team are gearing up for what it will look like with extra precautions in place to return to school in the fall, she said students’ food security is important now more than ever.

“Even during planned closures, such as summer break, there are a lot of children that need our assistance that aren’t able to get it,” she said. “So being able to see children in school, doing whatever we

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teacher profile

Sherry Willis

| Rankin Elementary School • Tupelo |

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n Sherry Willis’ third-grade gifted classroom at Rankin Elementary, there are four things everyone should do to be a good citizen, as told by giraffes: 1. Be caring — the giraffe has a 25-pound heart, 2. Be compassionate — “you’ll never see one that picks a fight; he will fight to defend himself, but he’s caring because he takes care of all the animals on the savanna, he’s the lookout,” Willis says, 3. Take helpful action — like the giraffe protecting the savanna, and 4. Be persistent — the giraffe is very resilient and can run 35 miles an hour, and he won’t give up.

Willis has been teaching for 30 years, and she said every year when she prepares a unit, she learns something new each time. In her classroom with students who “see things differently,” she strives to incorporate multiple aspects of learning to make sure each student stays engaged and excited to learn. At the start of each school year, her students take an evaluation to help her gauge their talents.

“My job is to help them with their strengths and their weaknesses, and to improve on their weaknesses and to learn how to work with others, and how to appreciate their gifts that they have,” she said. “Every day when they come to me, I try to have things that they do that’s on all of those levels.”

For each unit, Willis usually incorporates presentations to make sure her students are equipped with public speaking

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skills. For each presenter, the classroom does “three stars and a wish.” Their speaker’s classmates will point out three things the student did well, and the speaker will chase the three stars with a wish — “‘I wish I would have done this differently,’ because that helps them realize there’s always room for self-improvement,” Willis said.

Willis has served on the Mississippi Association For Gifted Children for 10 years, and was the president in 2010. In addition, she is Rankin’s Arts Project Director, so Willis works to integrate a school-wide initiative with the Mississippi Arts Commission to bring art into each classroom. She also reaches out to Mississippi artists such as William Heard to come to the school to do art with the kids.

When covering a unit, like when her class learned about Egypt, she assigned her students projects like mummifications, costumes, creating a museum, and decorating a tomb. The art projects are usually her favorite, and she says her students never fail to “blow my mind.”

“I don’t believe kids are born as a blank slate,” she said.

“I really don’t, because in all my years of teaching, I’ve seen these kids come to the table with things that are already in them, and it’s a teacher’s job to be facilitators to bring that out. That’s my job, is to help to see their potential and to reach that potential.”

administration profile

Tony Elliott

| South Tippah School District |

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ony Elliott, the new South Tippah School District superintendent, is overseeing the district during one of the most challenging times in education, as schools prepare to reopen during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elliott, a Ripley native who graduated from Pine Grove, has worked in education for more than 23 years.

Along with coaching and teaching jobs over the years at Potts Camp and New Albany, Elliott has served in various roles across South Tippah Schools, including boys’ basketball coach, assistant principal, athletic director and principal. He most recently served for eight years as director of the Tippah Career and Technology Center and assistant superintendent.

He pursued a career in education because of a passion for coaching and seeing students come together to achieve a common goal.

“I just felt a calling to go that way, to be able to connect with students one-on-one and help them overcome obstacles they had in life,” Elliott said.

The biggest lesson Elliott has learned as an administrator is that “if something is important to other people, you have to

learn to make it important to yourself.” And in his new role, he plans to place a greater importance on technology.

He plans to increase the use of technology across the district using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund and other CARES Act funding available as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic to purchase devices for every student in the district.

“We’re living in a world that’s driven by technology and we’ve got to get on board with that in the school system,” Elliott said.

In addition to one-to-one devices for students, the district will use a new learning management system in the fall that will allow for more streamlined use of technology and simplify virtual learning if school buildings were to close again due to the coronavirus.

He has three main goals for the 2020-21 school year: keep everyone safe, educate the students and keep everyone employed.

“We can choose to look at this as a problem or we can choose to look at it as an opportunity,” Elliott said. “And at South Tippah, we’re going to choose to look at it as an opportunity.” M

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CHILDREN’S HEALTH

MANAGING A MENTAL HEALTH FOCUS

in a pandemic

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he COVID-19 pandemic has worn on families mentally, physically and emotionally. As parents, how we cope with challenges becomes a blueprint for how our children will handle adversity in the future. Learning and practicing healthy habits and coping skills is important from an early age. Because more than half of adolescents who will eventually experience mental health challenges show signs by the age of 14, getting an early start, even before many kids fully understand what is happening around them, is critical to creating healthy habits for life.

“Change is hard and we need to remember that life hasn’t just changed for adults, it’s changing for our kids, too,” said Monica Roberts, LPC-S, Outpatient Therapist with Canopy Children’s Solutions. “Kids are looking to their parents to understand how to feel about what is happening in the world and how to handle the new stress that has entered their lives from all directions. The coping skills parents use today are the skills their kids will model later in life. By keeping a check on emotions and managing stress, parents are teaching their children essential coping skills and how to remain resilient in the face of adversity.”

Resiliency in overcoming adversity has a direct effect on health and wellness. Increases in stress hormones can lead to heart disease, lung issues, digestive challenges and cognitive impairment. The COVID-19 crisis has not only added a new layer of stress for families, but has also led to spikes in isolation, depression, anxiety, aggression, substance use as well as suicide. If you’ve noticed significant mood or behavior changes in your child, take the changes seriously and talk to their healthcare provider. Early intervention is the best way to reach long-term healthy outcomes.

“You are the expert on your child,” says Canopy CEO John D. Damon, Ph.D. “The signs of anxiety and depression in children aren’t the same as in adults. If your child is suddenly experiencing frequent headaches or stomachaches, that can be a sign of anxiety. Socially isolating can be another sign of trouble. However, these behaviors may also be perfectly normal for your child. A teenage that sleeps all day may be pretty normal in your house, but maybe not. You know your child best, so when you notice changes in what is normal for your child, I urge parents to seek out help before it leads to deeper, long-term impairments to their daily life.”

Some of the potential warning signs that a child may be struggling with their mental health include:

Mood changes Intense feelings Behavior changes and aggression Difficulty concentrating Unexplained weight loss Physical symptoms like headache or stomachaches Self-injury Substance use

The good news is, parents can help support positive mental health in themselves and in their children. Ensuring everyone gets adequate amounts of sleep and nutritious food helps to fuel your brain and body. Sticking to a routine helps to curb anxiety, and mentally prepares yourself for the day ahead.

Managing stress through self-care is a great way for families to connect and maintain healthy habits. A few self-care ideas include taking a walk, playing a game, riding bikes, listening to music or journaling how you are feeling. Prioritizing exercise also helps to strengthen your mind and body. Combat negative thinking by focusing on something positive in life each day. Limit your time watching the news during times of crisis and model moderation for children when it comes to screen time and social media use.

Be sure to include time for parents and children to have open and honest conversations about their days, how they are feeling and if there are concerns.

While 2020 was likely not what we expected when we turned the calendar in January, look at this as an opportunity to prepare your children for life.

Teaching resiliency and positive ways to manage stress and mental health are lessons that will serve children well for a lifetime. M Contributed by Laura Walker, staff writer for Canopy Children’s Solutions. Canopy offers an array of behavioral health, educational and social service solutions to children and families throughout Mississippi. For more information about solutions offered through Canopy, please visit mycanopy.org or call 800-388-6247.

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Laissez les bon temps rouler

Let the good times role down in M

Oxford

organ and Colby Arceneaux met while attending the University of Mississippi, where he played football. After college, they found themselves married and living in New Orleans, where Colby’s from, for almost 10 years. When they had their two children, Duke and Piper, they decided they needed somewhere more quiet.

“We love New Orleans,” Morgan said. “But we just wanted somewhere I guess easier and more family-oriented, and Oxford was always our common place.”

So in 2017 they made the move, and the family (plus their dog, Libby) moved into their new five-bedroom home in November. Initially, the kids’ rooms remained largely unchanged from their home in New Orleans.

“Their rooms especially were fun for us to design because (when) we first moved here and had built the house, they both still had kind of nursery-themed rooms, so we didn’t really do anything,” she said. “But then they started growing and we figured out what they like and their personalities … He’s all sports, loves all kinds of sports, is so competitive; and then she’s like girly-girl, loves makeup, nails done, but she can hang with the boys and play the sports, too.”

Duke, a kindergartner at Bramlett Elementary School who will turn 6 this year, initially said he wanted an Ole Miss-themed room; but Morgan said they compromised for a red and blue room instead, with a lot of sports elements blended together.

Whereas Piper, who will turn 4 this year and will be doing day school at Oxford University Methodist Church, has a room filled with fairies and bows, and a chandelier hangs from her light pink ceiling.

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by KRISTINA DOMITROVICH photos by LINDSAY PACE

Above: Duke’s sofa-styled daybed features monogramed pillows, a shark and red-and-blue-plaid bolster pillows. Above the bed hangs a sketch of a stillshot taken of Colby’s first collegiate tackle.

Next page clockwise, starting top left: Piper’s daybed is a light pink, with monogrammed pillows and fairy-print bolster pillows. Pink details and books sit on the shelves in Piper’s room, featuring her favorite book, “The Very Little Girl.” A neon football helmet hangs above a three-tiered cart holding Duke’s dinosaurs and animals. Three football helmets of the family’s favorite teams, with a photo of Duke in the background.

Jennifer Russell Interiors designed and styled the childrens’ rooms.

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Top: Duke colors at his desk, which is decorated with various trinkets, like his sports trophies sitting on the bookshelves above; Top Right: Piper reads her favorite book at her white kid-sized table in her room, sitting on one of the acrylic chairs; Right: Duke plays with his firetruck while in his pirate ship; Above: Duke and Piper’s playhouses sit on a turf pad in the backyard, surrounded by iron railing to bring a touch of New Orleans into the landscape.

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“With her loving all her babies and cooking in her little kitchen, we let her little personality kind of lead us how to design her room,” Morgan said.

Duke and Piper share a dual-access bathroom between their rooms, which works well for the two as Morgan says “they are best friends.” In the backyard, they each have their own playhouses.

Duke’s is a pirate ship, and Piper’s is a home complete with a play kitchen and loft. Morgan joked that Duke is the cleaner, more organized one of the two, and that he’s constantly telling Piper she should tidy up her little home when toys are strewn about.

As for the rest of the home, while she was working on the interior of the house, Colby told Morgan to surprise him with it’s design, which Morgan now laughs at how daunting of a task that seemed. In their previous home, the colors were dark and really played into the New Orleans style.

Doing a 180, their home is now filled with a lot of white and light colors. In a household with upcoming 6- and 4-year-olds, Morgan rightfully had her concerns.

“I wanted to do something fresh and different, and I was scared to do it because of the kids,” she said. “Everything we’ve gotten has been scotch guarded or (is) the Sunbrella fabric, so everything’s kind of kid-friendly, believe it or not.”

Along with other elements, she wanted to be sure to add in some elements of their previous home, like iron railing and pillars on the back patio, more railing on the staircase going upstairs and a lot of metallic elements.

“We tried to bring a lot of ideas from things in New Orleans that we love, make it work here,” she said.

Now that they have lived in their home for about three years, Morgan said she thinks they’ve finally gotten everything settled to their liking, but the family spends as much time outdoors as possible.

“They just keep us so busy,” she said. “It’s so fun having one of each.” M

See more photos of the Arceneaux’s home at mudandmag.com.

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Top: The living room is filled with cool blues and whites, accented with gold; Next page clockwise starting at the top left: A seating area in the kitchen in front of a window overlooking the backyard. The dining room integrates white and gold colors with contemporary shapes, like the lamp, and traditional elements, like the mirror and chandelier. One of the side tables flanking either side of the fireplace features many gold elements, like the handles on the cabinet doors.

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Introducing

SMALL BUSINESS BEHAVIORAL BUNDLE Behavioral and targeted display advertising campaigns that offer affordable plans to our community of local businesses.

Thrive Marketing Mississippi Call 662-678-1519

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Sen i or A dv ice One for the Books by

EMILY PETTIT Emily graduated as Valedictorian from Houston High School. She will attend Mississippi State University in the fall, where she plans to major in accounting.

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any people will say that senior year is one of the most important and best years of your life. For the Class of 2020, it was definitely a year we will never forget. We have set the record for the longest spring break ever, but winning that award comes with downsides. Many of us never got to experience a “senior season,� or throw our caps in the air at graduation. Although our senior year was cut short, we learned many valuable life lessons throughout our time together, even if we did not realize it until it was too late.

SCHOLARSHIPS OR THE SCHOOLS THAT YOU HOPE TO ATTEND AFTER HIGH SCHOOL, YOU NEED TO START THINKING ABOUT THEM RIGHT NOW.

DO NOT TAKE YOUR SENIOR YEAR FOR GRANTED.

AS HARD AS IT MAY SEEM, TRY NOT TO PROCRASTINATE.

Our year was stripped away from us so fast, I do not think we realized what was happening. One week of spring break turned into two, then it turned into April 17, then it turned into the remainder of the school year. We still had nine weeks worth of memories to make with our classmates that we will never get to experience. Take every chance you get to make memories with your classmates and teachers because you never know when your last year together will be over.

If you wait until the last minute to write your essays for your scholarships, the quality will more than likely not be as good as it would have been if you would have written the essay before the night it was due. If you procrastinate, you will become stressed and leave out important details that may set you apart from other applicants.

IF YOU HAVE NOT THOUGHT ABOUT APPLYING FOR

Many university applications open before the school year begins and applying early has many benefits. Do not wait for your school to release the local scholarships; start looking now for outside scholarships to apply for.

BE INVOLVED. BE INVOLVED. BE INVOLVED. Go to your senior events and pep rallies.

Go to sporting events with your friends and cheer on your classmates. Try out a

new club or sport. Do not knock it until you try it, because you never know, it may become the most favorite thing you participated in during your high school career.

FORM RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR TEACHERS. They can help you far beyond just high school. They are the ones you will reach out to for your letter of recommendations for the scholarships you are applying for.

They will be the ones you reach out to in college when you are struggling to grasp a certain concept and need more of an in-depth explanation. They want to see you succeed, and they would love to be a helping hand for anything that you may need over the years.

Although the Class of 2020 did not complete our senior year, I think that it is safe to say that it was one of the most memorable years of our lives. This year showed us how quickly things can change, and how we must be ready at any given moment for something completely different than what we are accustomed to. I saved the best piece of advice for last: have fun. Go out and live your best life over the next year, it is going to be one for the books. M

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l o o h c s o back-t

FASHION photos by LINDSAY PACE

Evan Ware

Evan is 7 years old, and is going into the second grade at Saltillo Primary.

What’s your favorite part of school?

Playground.

What’s your favorite school lunch?

Cereal.

What’s your favorite after-school snack?

Cereal.

What’s your favorite color?

Blue.

If you could be any animal, what animal would you choose to be?

A giraffe, it’s cool.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A police.

Do you do any after-school activities?

I do music.

Evan’s look is from Reed’s in Tupelo. He’s wearing: Hey Dude Wally shoes, $44.95, Prodoh striped polo, $48, and J. Bailey shorts, $44.

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Gray Flowers

Gray is 10 years old, and is going into the fifth grade at Oxford Intermediate School.

What’s your favorite school lunch?

Mandarin chicken with corn.

What’s your favorite after-school snack?

Goldfish.

What’s your favorite color?

Dark blue.

If you could be any animal, what animal would you choose to be?

Giraffe, because it’s my favorite animal.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I want to be a nurse, because my aunt and uncle are a nurse.

Do you do any after-school activities?

I do gymnastics.

Gray’s look is from Elliot Lane in Oxford. She’s wearing: A Habitual jumpsuit, $60, Steve Madden shoes, $56, and a Bari Lynn headband, $16.95.

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Grant Baker

Grant is 4 years old, and is going to Early Childhood Education Center.

What’s your favorite part of school?

Playing with friends.

What’s your favorite school lunch?

Pizza.

What’s your favorite after-school snack?

Cheez-It crackers.

What’s your favorite color?

Blue.

If you could be any animal, what animal would you choose to be?

Elephant.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Doctor.

Do you do any after-school activities?

Soccer.

Grant’s look is from The Little Magnolia Boutique in Tupelo.

He’s wearing: a Banana Split apple short set, $58, and Footmates Taffy sandles, $38.

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Sannaiyah Evans

Sannaiyah is 13 years old, and is going into the seventh grade at Shannon Middle School.

What’s your favorite part of school?

Math.

What’s your favorite school lunch?

Pizza.

What’s your favorite after-school snack?

Chips.

What’s your favorite color?

Pink.

If you could be any animal, what animal would you choose to be?

A butterfly, because it can fly.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I want to be a nurse.

Do you do any after-school activities?

I do cheer, and I’m going to do volleyball.

Sannaiyah’s look is from Black Sheep Boutique in Tupelo. Call for outfit information and prices.

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Frederick Adams III

Frederick is 11 years old, and is going into the sixth grade at Milam Elementary.

What’s your favorite part of school?

P.E. What’s your favorite school lunch?

Chicken spaghetti.

What’s your favorite after-school snack?

Burger.

What’s your favorite color?

Blue.

If you could be any animal, what animal would you choose to be?

Cheetah, it’s fast.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Football player.

Do you do any after-school activities?

Football and baseball.

Frederick’s look is from MLM in Tupelo. He’s wearing Johnnie-O shorts and shirt. Please call for pricing.

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BUYER ’S GUIDE

BUYER ’S GUIDE

BUYER ’S GUIDE

SUPPLIES

SCHOOL ESSENTIALS

by Lindsay Pace

Personal touches are important: They allow us to express ourselves. They give a sense of

belonging. And in times like these, they ignite needed joy. Whether your little one is two or ten, we have a few items to show their style — and keep them safe — this school year.

Safe + Healthy

Homework Tracker

These nylon masks are thin and breathable, perfect for weaing during long school days. Not to mention, these keychains allow your little one to touchlessly press buttons or open doors.

Elizabeth Clair in Tupelo. Masks $11.95 for a set of two; Keychain $13.95.

If planning is their thing, look no further. This agenda by Rifle Paper Co. features monthly, weekly and daily calendars for maximum productivity. It easily fits into a purse or backpack.

Flourish Paper in Tupelo. $34.

Play Well

Bright Bookbags

Pretty Details

Recess just got better. On Cloud sneakers feature the perfect foam-to-weight ratio for a comfy, light wear.

CORE Cycle + Outdoor in Tupelo. $129.99.

Who doesn’t need a pop of rainbow color? These Bari Lynn backpacks are a dose of happy — and they’re comfortable, too.

Elliott Lane in Oxford. $62-64.

Stand out with sweet, simple details, like initial keychains. And don’t be fooled by their dainty appearance — they’re able to tough out a school year.

Stella Boutique in Ripley. $15.

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LYNLEE G.

Candles

A young entrepreneur is paving her own way by launching a candle business at 13 years old.

by KRISTINA DOMITROVICH photos by LINDSAY PACE

A

t the beginning of May, soon-to-be-14-year-old Lynlee Grace Hinton (Grace), approached her dad looking for a project. In part, to find something to help pass the time, partly to have “something of her own” aside from her twin brother according to her father, and partly because she’s a self-proclaimed daddy’s girl — but definitely something to help pass the extra time in the house.

“Candles are kind of what really spoke to us,” she said.

Soon, after researching and watching videos, Grace and Mark Hinton, her father, went to Hobby Lobby to get some start-up supplies. A little while after that, they switched gears and started researching what the “higher-end folks” use.

“We knew that we would have a good product that wouldn’t come back on us,” Mark said. “We put a little bit more money into it than probably what most do, but we want to have a good product out there.”

Initially, Grace said she asked around to see what people’s favorite scents are, then started testing various combinations to come up with her brand’s first eight scents. Lynlee g. Candles come in: beach house, red currant, aspen, coastal breeze, infused, symphony, orchard and telluride.

Along the way, Mark and Grace learned together that making a candle is far more complicated than simply melting wax and adding scents. The wax must first be melted to a certain temperature, “then it has to cool down before you put your fragrance in, or all your fragrance will burn out,” Mark explained, then it has to cool to another temperature before being poured into the jars (which are heated to match the wax’s temperature). Once poured and cooled, the

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Previous Page: Lynlee g. Candles decorate the Hinton home. She houses wax in Midnite Pottery containers, left, and her signature containers; This Page, clockwise: Grace sits in her dining room, where she often works.

Nearly 100 candles line the table she sits at; As a candle solidifies, it creates a gradient. She uses popsicle sticks to hold wicks in place; Grace heats the pot which wax will pour from.

Candle-making relies on precisely monitored temperatures, so she is careful with this step; She fulfills orders for Midnite Pottery using a key she created. Her family jokes that it ‘s her own language.

candles are hit with a heat gun to smooth out the surface and any flaws (like bubbles). Then, the candles must cure, a process that can take anywhere from three to seven days, to ensure the wax and fragrance will burn properly — right now, that process takes place in the Hinton’s dining room, after being melted and poured in their kitchen.

Another key lesson learned is the fragrance cannot exceed 9% of the final product’s makeup, so Grace said there’s a lot of measuring and weighing that goes into each batch. Then there’s the struggle to find a balanced wick, too — one that isn’t so thin that it won’t give off any scent, but one that isn’t so thick it will burn through the candle too quickly.

Once they got the hang of it, they started pouring for individual orders. Grace said this was great initially, as it helped get the name out there and gain a following, but they eventually started switching gears to wholesale. L.A. Green of Tupelo and Bankhead Flower Shop in New Albany were the first boutiques to give Lynlee g. Candles a shot; and so far, it’s been going well.

Aside from local retailers, Lynlee g. Candles has picked up more business with Midnite Pottery, which was looking for a new business to pour candles into their containers. Grace submitted a few scents for their consideration, and the pottery brand chose Lynlee g. Candles to be their new supplier. But her brand’s success doesn’t deter her from the bigger picture.

This young entrepreneur donates 10% of her sales to the Tupelo Humane Society. Though she’s still too young to

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volunteer there, she can purchase some supplies the shelter needs each month and donate them directly. At one point, Grace was interested in being a veterinarian because of her deep love of animals. Though being a lawyer looks more appealing now, her love for animals is still very strong. She has two dogs, Kate and Stella.

Though she started this project in May, she’s already looking ahead with long-term vision.

“I’m hoping to get in Celebration Village,” Grace said, already planning ahead.

Mark said she’s in the right mindset, as she suggested each time they pour a batch, they should do a few extras to set aside for a retail event of that scale. The two joked that at some point, they’ll be trying to find places to stash that many candles. In the winter, Mark said he has plans to set her stations up in the garage; but for now, in the heat of the Mississippi summer, they’ll make it work with the space inside their house.

When school starts back up, Grace is going to be busy. She’s going into the eighth grade at Tupelo Christian Preparatory School, and plays softball and basketball, plus she runs for cross-country, too. To combat her upcoming schedule, Mark and Grace agreed that Lynlee g. Candles should stop taking individual sales, “onesies and twosies” as Mark puts it, and transition solely to wholesale. That would be easier on Grace, because she can pour in batches a few nights a week and over the weekends. M

Desk Pegboard y i D

by LINDSAY PACE

Get ready for the school year with this craft! A trip to your local hardware store can guarantee a colorful desk with plenty of storage. Head to mudandmag.com to learn more.

Materials: Pegboard, cut to length of desktop Command Strips or hammer and nails Wire baskets Craft supplies, like scissors, washi tape or paint palettes Pom pom banner, cut to twice the length of pegboard Directions: At your local hardware store, cut pegboard to length of desktop. Then, using nails or Command Strips, secure it to the wall above the desk.

Nail or secure craft materials.

Decorate with items like dipped paint brushes, paint swatches or washi tape (pictured).

String banner atop pegboard for extra color.

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