Shereka Wright returns to Cove for Education Foundation Gala
Fri, 2016-04-08 14:37
News Staff
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
WNBA star, NCAA basketball coach and Copperas Cove High School alumnus Shereka Wright will return to her Copperas Cove roots as the keynote speaker for the third annual Boots & Buckles Gala for the Copperas Cove Education Foundation on Saturday, April 16 at the Copperas Cove Civic Center.
Wright graduated with the CCHS class of 2000, and was named a USA Today, Gatorade and WBCA Player of the Year during her senior year. She finished her high school career with 3,269 points and went on to play for the Purdue University Boilermakers, where she earned a degree in health and fitness.
In 2004 and 2005, Wright played as a forward for the Phoenix Mercury in the Women’s National Basketball Association. Wright then went on to coach at the collegiate level for Texas Tech. She was inducted into the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.
Wright is currently an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the University of Alabama women’s basketball program.
Tickets to next Saturday’s event are $50 per person, with table sponsorships also available for $1,000. Doors open at the Copperas Cove Civic Center at 6:30 p.m. for social hour, with the gala beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Those interested in purchasing tickers or table sponsorships should contact Teresa Dennison at 254-547-1227. Tickets may also be purchased at the CCISD administration building, located at 703 W. Ave. D, or via a link at the foundation’s web page at: http://www.ccisd.com/domain/9.
The annual event serves as a fundraiser for the foundation, which since 2008 has awarded a total of $231,804 in grants to classrooms in CCISD, with 29 educators being awarded grants in November 2015.
Since its inception in 2008, the foundation has also honored the top 10 percent of Copperas Cove High School seniors in an annual Senior Walk of Fame, along with teachers who have had the greatest impact on their education, as chosen by the students.
Teaching grants recipients get to spend their funds on innovative classroom ideas and programs that are intended to directly impact students’ education in the district.
The 2015 grants included programs like Williams/Lovett Ledger Elementary School teacher Andrea Cardon’s project, Teaching Digital Citizens, for which she received $3,430.66. Cardon implemented the program Common Sense Media with her students. The program also helps teachers teach digital literacy and digital citizenship to deal with cyberbullying, digital cheating, online security concerns, and implement digital safety. This program impacted over 700 students in CCISD.
Over at DAEP and Crossroads High School, Gwendolyn Gray received a pair of grants, one for $777 for her project 3-2-1: Three Programs, Two Campuses, One Set of Shared Resources. This grant provides the two campuses with better ways to support the goals of past programs implemented by CCISD in past years to include the Six Pillars of Character, Worth the Wait Concepts, Anti-Bullying, Texas College and Career Readiness Standards, Rachel’s Challenge.
Over at Mae Stevens Early Learning Academy, prekindergarten teacher Love-Anne Feather received a grant for her proposal, Baking with Mother Goose in the amount of $348.63. Feather purchased a multi-function oven to enhance the school’s cooking lab. The oven is used to teach math and science concepts including numeric properties, measurement, mixing, following directions, practicing safety measures, using senses, and changes in states of matter, as well as allow the campus’s 575 students to participate in cooking experiences related to books or poems they read.
Lisa Mullen at Martin Walker Elementary School received $3,527.46 for her proposal, Fitness for All. This grant helped her purchase low impact exercise equipment, such as the recumbent bike and rower machine, for disabled or injured students to keep active and participate, with all 500 students on campus having access to the equipment as well.
At Fairview/Jewell Elementary School, Courtney Jenkins, Holly Prax, and Julie Fish received a grant in the amount of $4,585 for their proposal, Learning with a Twist. This will enable them to purchase five ball chairs per classroom per grade level, 25 Fidgets, 25 Deskercisers and 25 Think-n-Rolls. The tools help students stay active while keeping their body, hands, and feet busy, and impacted approximately 471 students in grades K-5.