Friday, May 3, 2024

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Ivey commends WES; urges students to contribute

Jan McDonald , , , , ,

Wearing a suit of River City Blue, Gov. Kay Ivey made a brief visit to Westside Elementary School Tuesday as part of Alabama’s bicentennial celebration.

Gov. Kay Ivey looks on as WES students Mariah Jones, Bryce Meadows and Cristy Valderos harvest sweet potatoes from the school garden. With them are Rebecca Culpepper, left, with the Demopolis Food Bank, and kindergarten teacher Gabrielle McVay.

Her stop was an acknowledgement of WES being named a Bicentennial School and its “Grow Alabama” focus. WES used that theme to begin its “Growing Community Leaders” program and paired it with developing a vegetable garden, the results of which are shared with the Demopolis Food Pantry.

What the students are doing “reflects the spirit of Alabama’s bicentennial,” said Ivey. She added that a year ago she challenged students “to become involved and make a difference in their community and to learn the joy and satisfaction that comes with working with your fellow Alabamians to make progress in our great state and a better place to live.”

“You took that challenge to heart and your project that you created was ‘Growing Community Leaders,’” she said. “Leadership is one of the most important qualities that you can develop. It makes me proud to see that Westside Elementary has made this such a high priority.”

Gov. Ivey is escorted by the DHS mascot.

Ivey said from the very beginning of organizing the anniversary “we knew then the way to spread the spirit of the event to every corner of this great state was to include our young people.”

After being escorted by the Demopolis High School band, cheerleaders and mascot, Ivey watched as WES students harvested sweet potatoes from their vegetable garden and presented them to the Food Pantry.

Ivey revealed last week that she has early stage lung cancer and will undergo radiation therapy. In his introductory remarks, Demopolis school Supt. Kyle Kallhoff said everyone has been touched by cancer.

Demopolis is a praying community, he told the governor. “We understand the power of prayer” and said the city would be praying for her.

WES principal Tisha Lewis accepts an Alabama Bicentennial book from Gov. Ivey for the school library.

After her remarks, Ivey presented WES principal Tisha Lewis with an Alabama Bicentennial Book of the school library.

Showing no signs of any illness, Ivey posed in the hot sun for pictures with the band, cheerleaders, students and others before continuing her schedule.

Ivey, a native of Camden, was sworn in as governor in 2017 after Robert Bentley resigned. She was elected to a full term in November 2018. Prior to that she was elected state treasurer after other careers as a teacher and bank clerk.