View or translate this update at / Ver o traducir esta actualización en / عرض هذا التحديث أو ترجمته على / 查看或翻译此更新，网址为 / دا اپډیټ په کښې وویئ یا یې وژباړئ  Stillwaterschools.com

SPS Families and Staff,

Recently, I received an email that brightened my day from one Dennis Goda, a 90-year-old gentleman who attended school here in Stillwater in his youth. During World War II, his family had been confined to Japanese American internment camps in Jerome, Arkansas, and Gila River, Arizona, until his father was selected to teach Japanese to U.S. Naval officers at Oklahoma A&M College  (now OSU). They then relocated to Stillwater in February of 1945 and enrolled in Stillwater Public Schools. Mr. Goda wanted to confirm some details of his time here to share with his grandchildren, as it had been quite a while.

I took a moment to enter what we call “the vault” and was able to confirm his school and the spelling of his teacher’s name. There really are some things that go on your “permanent record” in school, including a teacher misspelling your name. :)

Mr. Goda shared some beautiful memories of his time in Stillwater. He described Stillwater as a "land of plenty," filled with kindness and abundance. He remembered fishing with his father at Lake Carl Blackwell, gathering pecans in the woods, and walking past trees with fruit just falling to the ground. His younger sister was often invited to slumber parties, and the friendliness of the community left a deep impression on his entire family, especially in light of the reception they had received in some places during the war. Dennis expressed gratitude for the opportunities his family found in Stillwater during such a difficult time in our nation's history, and he expressed hope that the young people of today appreciate the freedoms we experience in our country.

I was deeply moved by my chat with an individual who was a part of such a pivotal time in our nation and town’s history. With his permission, I wanted to share this story to remind all of us what a special place Stillwater has always been — a community built on kindness, generosity, and acceptance.

As we approach the end of the school year, many of our seniors and some of our students from other grades prepare to leave this community for sights and futures unseen. I hope in 80 years they look back on our special town as fondly as Mr. Goda does.

-Barry Fuxa
PR & Communications Coordinator
Stillwater Public Schools

 

In case you missed it…

• Tyler Bridges has been named SPS Superintendent. Learn more about him here. He’s already visiting the district frequently to help make sure we have a smooth transition. More to come from him in the near future!
  
• At the April board meeting the Board named Roberta Douglas as President and Rachel Dillin as Vice President for the year.
   

Celebrate Greatness

• Lunch Hero Day is this Friday, but we’re out of school that day, so we’re celebrating Lunch Hero Week. We appreciate all they do every day to help our students have the nutrition and energy they need to learn.
• We’ll be announcing our District Teacher of the Year this Friday. Look for an announcement that evening.
• Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week. Be sure to let those teachers know how much they’re loved!

Speaking of nutrition…

As state testing and finals continue in the coming weeks, please be sure your children have a healthy meal to start the day (they can get a free breakfast at school) and to get plenty of sleep.

Getting tickets to a great show is a… snap.

Don’t miss out on this week’s performances of the Addams Family Musical at SHS! Our performing arts students do an amazing job delivering top notch entertainment experiences. Get your tickets ($12 for adults. $10 for students) now at cur8.com/projects/TAF

 

Help us recognize our seniors

Each year SHS recognizes individual seniors with signs along  the HS campus. If you’d like to help support that effort, donations can be made via Venmo to the SHS PTO account @SHSpioneersPTO or cash and checks can be dropped off at the high school.

 

Shop Local

Stillwater FFA encourages you to shop local. They’ve built some lovely planter boxes for 50 local participating businesses, each with custom signs: "Shop Local," "Shop Stillwater," , and “Shop < Business Name >." Between May 1st and May 15th, any SPS student and their parents can shop at these businesses, turn in photos of their receipts for the chance to win gift cards. There’s $2,500 up for grabs. The more times a student enters, the more chances they have to win, and there is no limit to the number of times they can win. Find the list of businesses, and submit your receipts at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdp32PG1_25ViXsgTbcwHZNMpk1cljbwTNCaICCsvY2A2U5zw/viewform

 

Community Health Needs Assessment

Complete the Payne County Community Health Needs Assessment at osdhcfhs.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cCrD0qnFcFSzRRA to help identify the biggest community health issues facing our community. This feedback will be utilized to create a community health improvement plan by multiple agencies and organizations within our county, including the Payne County Health Department and Stillwater Medical.  

 

#PioneerProud

Congrats to our Pioneers on these amazing recent achievements.

Academics:

• Seniors Alex Kim and Matthew Li were named Oklahoma 2025 Academic All-Staters! 100 top public high school seniors were selected from hundreds of nominations statewide, to receive a $1,500 merit-based cash award, honor cord and a medallion. They will be recognized at the 39th annual Academic Awards Celebration on May 10, 2025, at the Oklahoma City Convention Center.

 

Activities:

• Congratulations to Junior, Alex Kidangathazhe for winning Outstanding Economic Student from the Federal Reserve and the OCEE (Oklahoma Council of Economic Education). He was one of twelve students recognized from Oklahoma. He was nominated by his AP US History teacher Connie Parker. 

Agriculture:

• State Champion Ag Issues Team 
• State Runner-Up Livestock Judging Team 
• State Runner-Up Ag Mechanics Team 

Altruism:

• Stillwater Makes a Change presented a check for $87,404 to Payne County Youth Services!
  
• Congratulations and thank you to the following students for their commitment to serving our nation in the US. Armed Forces. 
  • Benjamin Earp – U.S. Air Force
  • Antonio Bugarin-Vega – U.S. Army National Guard
  • Tagen Chadrick – U.S. Army National Guard
  • Grant Jackson – U.S. Army National Guard
  • Casey Moore – U.S. Army National Guard
  • Isabella Reyes – U.S. Army National Guard
  • Raiden Silas – U.S. Army National Guard
  • Kira Vialpando – U.S. Army National Guard
  • Drayton Brandt – U.S. Navy
    

Arts:

• SHS Symphonic Band received superior ratings for their stage performance and sight reading at the OSSAA State Contest.
• The 8th grade band received straight superior ratings at the North Texas Festival of Distinction
  

Athletics:

• Good luck to all our spring sports as they head into regionals.
• Dee Lockett was named Oklahoma recipient of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award!
   

We can't possible list all the amazing things our students do and the honors they receive here.
Be sure to follow the social media of your favorite student activities & school to learn more about these and other amazing student achievements.

 

Coming up- Details of events at Stillwaterschools.com/calendar

Fingers crossed that weather works out for all our outdoor athletic events, but… some events subject to possible rescheduling or cancellations.

• Thursday, May 1
  • State Agriscience Fair
  • HS- Soccer Boys JV at Edmond North Cup (9:40/12:40/4:40)
  • JH - Soccer vs Piedmont (Girls 4:45/Boys 6:15)
  • BBQ, Bids & Broadway - Band Fundraiser
  • SPRING MUSICAL
  • HS- Baseball vs Bixby (Senior Night - District Game)
• Friday, May 2
  • No School - Teacher Professional Development
  • HS - Boys Golf Regionals
  • HS- Tennis Girls V at Shawnee HS
  • HS - Soccer at Piedmont Cup (Boys Only)
  • SPRING MUSICAL
  • HS- Soccer Boys Homecoming Reunion
• Saturday, May 3
  • HS- Tennis Boys V at Shawnee HS
  • HS- Baseball vs Marlow
  • SPRING MUSICAL
• Sunday, May 4 
  • SPRING MUSICAL
• Monday, May 5
  • State FFA Convention (Day 1/3)
  • HS- Girls Golf V at State (MeadowBrook-Tulsa)
  • HS- Tennis Girls V at Regionals (TBD)
  • JH/MS- 7th/8th Grade Volleyball Tryout 2025
  • SMS Theatre Arts - "Live in Living Color: A Musical Revue