BROKEN ARROW HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION TIGER TALES Published by and for Alumni and Friends of Broken Arrow High School Volume 21, No. 1 January/July2020 Broken Arrow High School Alumni Association’s Scholarship Winners for the Class of 2020 Taylor Raney is the daughter of Jessica Moss. Taylor was involved in several activities during high school she especially liked swimming, being involved since she was 8. She was an officer in Senior Board Public Relations, Native American Student Association, Lower Mentor Program, Committee on Life at Broken Arrow Senior High member, Student Council member and the Leadership program. She was involved in several non-school services to the community: the Salvation Army Boys and Girls club for toy donations, helped collect food with her church youth group for Feed my Starving Children, collected baby items for the Margaret Hudson program and assisted in collection items for local animal shelters. A project as a member of Student Council was raising money to donate to the Broken Arrow section of Make-A-Wish. Taylor plans on attending Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. Next is Talisa Biggs the daughter of Jaron and Ruth Biggs. Talisa was active in Student Council, Oklahoma Association of Student Councils, Committee on Life at Broken Arrow Senior High, Special Olympics, Native American program, National Honor Society, as a (senior welcoming sophomore on the campus by working at Tiger Camp (Sophomore Orientation)), the AP (Advanced Placement) and Parent Teacher Student Association. Talisa is very active in her church, volunteering for various activities, including, Bible quizzes, puppets and drama skits. Assisting in a dinner for the seniors of the church. Talisa plans to attend Oklahoma State University and major in psychology with an ultimate goal of a doctorate degree. With this degree she plans to become a counselor. The third winner is Sara Borza the daughter of Jennifer Coble. Sara was active in the following extracurricular activities: ninth grade captain on the cheer team and the yearbook committee. As a sophomore Sara gave up cheer to become an athletic trainer for Broken Arrow Sports Medicine. During her Junior year she was a soccer manager, enrolled into leadership class and was inducted in National Honors Society. She continued her role as a soccer manager; National Honors Society; Leadership, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America and also was a peer tutor for special needs. Sara participated in Miss Oklahoma Pageants her freshman through junior years. Sara’s favorite work as a volunteer was assisting with the feeding of the homeless with her grandmother’s church. Sara is planning to attend Oklahoma State University and major in architecture. There were only three scholarships awarded this year. The Alumni Association would definitively accept your donations to our scholarship fund. There were 18 applications this year and each applicant was deserving of assistance in their college education. Broken Arrow has many outstanding students some who may not be able to attend a school of higher education without some assistance. Your donation is always welcome. Written by Charlie Gann 2 Tiger Tales All Three Broken Arrow High School National Merit Semifinalists Attain Finalist Standing All three of Broken Arrow High School’s National Merit semifinalists were recently honored as finalists for their prestigious academic accomplishments. Michael Musa, Emily Newby and Emily Painter are among approximately 15,000 students from across the nation who qualified and are some of the highest scoring students in the state of Oklahoma. Established in 1955, the National Merit Scholarship Program is a long- standing academic competition for recognition and scholarships. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which serves as an initial screen of nearly 1.5 million entrants each year. From there, 34,000 students are commended and 16,000 semifinalists are chosen. Every year in February, 15,000 finalists are chosen based on their abilities, skills and accomplishments. “Attaining the honor of being named a National Merit Finalist is the culmination of many months and years of hard work on the part of these students and a title which they will be able to carry proudly throughout their lives,” Burns said. “Our school is proud of their accomplishments and will hold their example up to current and future students to show what may be possible when students are willing to work hard and challenge themselves to be their very best." From March to mid-June, approximately 8,000 students will be selected to receive a scholarship award, which includes National Merit Scholarships as well as corporate- and college-sponsored scholarships. Courtesy of Broken Arrow Public Schools We recently received our School Pride check donation in the amount of $14,000 from TTCU Federal Credit Union for the first half of 2020. Thanks for swiping your TTCU debit card and giving back to our district. If you don't have one, get yours today! Tiger Tales 3 Broken Arrow Public Schools to begin Construction on State-of-the-Art STEM Innovation Center As part of the second phase of its 2015 bond issue, Broken Arrow Public Schools will begin construction this spring on its state-of-the-art STEM innovation building and vocational agriculture center. This facility will be located on the property behind Casey’s General Store on Albany and County Line. It is expected to open for the 2021-22 school year. “This center will allow students to engage in instruction and activities relating to all things STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics),” Broken Arrow Public Schools Executive Director of Construction Bob Tolomeo said. “In an effort to truly capture what programming will exist within the building, we are consistently conversing with a committee of students and staff members to make sure we are meeting their needs.” The site will include a number of labs, a makerspace, a workshop, a build shop, numerous outdoor classrooms and more. In addition, the vocational agriculture center will include animal pens and show barns for those students pursuing careers in agricultural production, agribusiness and other agricultural related occupations. Academic programming, including the grade levels this facility will accommodate, is still being discussed. This project is being made possible by the passage of the 2015 bond issue. These bond funds allow us to add classrooms to accommodate growing enrollment, expand and update our facilities and add technology to the classroom. For more information, please visit www.baschools.org/2015bond. *The property, where the STEM Innovation Center is being constructed, was once owned by Carl Andersen and he operated a dairy for many years before he sold it. Congratulations Oscar Nipps Jr. World War II veteran Mr. Oscar Nipps Jr. just received his high school diploma from Superintendent Dr. Janet Dunlop. We are overjoyed to celebrate this gentleman who is the definition of perseverance and sacrifice. His story is a great lesson to us all, especially our graduates! Congratulations, Mr. Nipps! Please accept this diploma as a token of our appreciation for all you’ve done for our country and community. Courtesy of Broken Arrow Public Schools 4 Tiger Tales Six to be inducted into BA Athletic Hall of Fame in fall of 2020 Installation ceremony scheduled for Sept. 4 football home opener 2020 Hall of Fame Class (Clockwise from top left): Ken Ellett, Shawn Jones, Chuck Perry, McKenzie (Adams) Mills, Dusty Dilldine, The athletic director who created the Broken Arrow Athletic Hall of Fame, Broken Arrow Tigers winningest wrestling coach, a soccer player-turned coach-turned district administrator, two two-sport athletes, and the first official “Friend of Athletics” make up the BA Athletic Hall of Fame class of 2020. The 2020 inductees are Ken Ellett, Shawn Jones, Chuck Perry, McKenzie (Adams) Mills, Matt Klimas and Dusty Dilldine. Ellett served as BAPS Director of Athletics for 29 years before being named Executive Director of Student Activities in the spring of 2018. He retired from the district in December 2019. Ellett created the school’s athletic hall of fame in 1995. One of his many accomplishments included overseeing 51 state championships. Prior to Ellett’s arrival, Broken Arrow had won 11 state championships in 85 years of athletics. Ellett was named the 2009 Oklahoma Athletic Director of the Year. He also was named Region 7 Athletic Director four times. Ellett introduced sixth hour athletics to Broken Arrow in the early ‘90s. Prior to coming to Broken Arrow, Ellett coached at North Dakota State University (where he also played football), the University of Wisconsin and the University of Tulsa. Jones amassed a 148-30 dual record, the most wins in school history, during his 14 seasons at the helm of Tiger wrestling. Broken Arrow’s wrestling teams won five team state championships and four dual state titles under Jones’ tutelage. Twenty- four of Jones’ wrestlers combined to win 37 individual state championships. In eight of his 14 seasons, Jones’ teams were ranked in the top 50 nationally by Intermat Wrestling. Jones was twice – 2008 and 2010 – named the Tulsa World’s Wrestling Coach of the Year. Perry, the district’s Associate Superintendent of Student Services, was a standout soccer player for the Tigers from 1985 to 1987. He returned to his alma mater as a head coach in 1993. During his five-season tenure as head soccer coach, he took Broken Arrow to the school’s first state championship game. The Tigers played in the championship game twice and the semifinals once under Perry’s leadership and won four Frontier Valley Conference titles. His teams compiled a 56-13-2 record during his coaching career in BA. As a player, Perry led BA to the state semifinals as a junior and was team captain his senior season.