The season of giving started early for one classroom of students at Southwest City Elementary when they were selected by J.B. Hunt to receive a generous donation.
Each summer, J.B. Hunt holds the Adopt-a-Class contest in which semi-truck drivers nominate their child's or their grandchild's school class to be awarded a $500 donation of much-needed supplies. More than 300 nominations are received annually and 10 classes are awarded nationwide.
Ryan Price has worked for J.B. Hunt for six months, transporting live-haul loads to and from Simmons in Southwest City. When he heard about the Adopt-a-Class contest, he took a chance and nominated his daughter Addison's teacher, Steve Hawkins.
Hawkins has taught third-grade at Southwest City Elementary for four years.
"What really set this nomination apart was how highly [Price] spoke of Mr. Hawkins," said Foster Cook, driver personnel with J.B. Hunt. Cook is an Anderson native and MCHS alumni who says she knows first-hand how deserving the community is.
Cook contacted Hawkins in September to discuss the needs of his classroom and create a wish list. Once the supplies were ordered, they were shipped to Price, who was then able to deliver the donation, in his semi-truck, directly to students on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
As exciting as new books and activities are, the fun didn't stop there. Students wore matching, memorabilia T-shirts, asked Price questions about his career and toured the semi's cab before finally unboxing the new supplies.
Mr. Hawkins' class received a new bookshelf, dozens of books to fill the shelves -- including multiple complete series, interactive educational games, STEM activities and an American flag, in addition to day-to-day necessities such as tape, pencils, dry-erase markers and various cleaning supplies.
Hawkins said he was most thankful for a classroom set of hardback books.
"We have an author study in January, so it's nice to have a complete set of books. That way each student has a copy and we're not playing cat and mouse looking for one," he said. "We also got STEM activities to work with during the year, which the kids really enjoy."
General News on 12/05/2019