Community and Oasis Academy staff members who puckered up to kiss the pig on Sunday were, from left, winner Steve Hiskett, Sue Frey, Heidi Hockenberry-Grimes and Andy Lenon.
Oasis FFA is once again asked one lucky community member to pucker up to a pig at the Cantaloupe Festival. This year’s candidates were Steve Hiskett from Hiskett and Sons, Heidi Hockenberry-Grimes from Banner Hospital, Cantaloupe Festival Board Vice Chairman Sue Frey, and Counselor Andy Lenon from Oasis Academy.
The annual event is a fundraiser for the Oasis FFA chapter. Voting is done through monetary donations made for each candidate. Donations were accepted at the opening of the fair and the “winner” was announced and kiss the pig Sunday afternoon.
Proceeds from the fundraiser will be used for FFA events and activities like state convention, summer leadership camp and the greenhand leadership conference.
Along with Kiss the Pig donations, FFA sold locally grown sweet corn. The corn was a generous donation from Laca Farms.
“The Kiss the Pig Fundraiser has been a part of the Cantaloupe Festival for several years. FFA is extremely grateful for all the willing participants and to all the community members that come out and donate at the event,” said FFA Advisor Jackie Bogdanowicz. “Both Kiss the Pig and the corn sales will help our local students attend FFA activities and build our chapter.”
Board retreat focuses on students
The Oasis Academy Board and Administration spent their annual retreat looking at the core values and mission of the school. The collaborative day focused on how Oasis changes student lives through education.
Researching and reviewing core values of companies such as Apple, IKEA, LinkedIn, and Workday. The group agreed that lives are changed through the power of education. While this has always been a principle of the school, it is now even more deeply rooted through both the mission statement and core value of the school.
The new mission statement reads, “Oasis Academy improving lives through opportunity.” Oasis core value is, “Oasis Academy believes in the inherent worth and potential of each human and in the life-changing power of learning.”
“The board retreat was a very positive experience. It was a great opportunity to come together as a team and have some meaningful conversations about priorities,” said Oasis Board President Samantha Gomes. “Our school has people at all levels that are dedicated to putting students first.”
Oasis CEO Melissa Mackedon applauded the week of the board.
“I feel so lucky to work with a board who is willing to give up an entire workday to have meaningful conversations about students and improving Oasis Academy,” Mackedon said. “Everyone is willing to lean in and have serious conversations and debate and that is very gratifying. It was a very positive experience.”
Lego Robotics Competition Team
The Oasis Academy Middle School’s Robotics Competition Team is looking for members who have an interest in robotics and want to learn engineering skills in a fun, interactive environment. The team will focus on coding, engineering style problem solving, finding creative solutions to challenges, comradery, gracious professionalism, and have tons of fun in the process!
Each year the teams face different theme-based challenges. The 2022-23 theme is ENERGIZE. The team will explore where energy comes from, and how it is distributed, stored, and used – and then put their superpowered creativity to work to innovate for a better energy future – in superpowered.
Students in grades 5-8 interested in joining this team will need to show commitment to practices and their teammates. First and foremost, this is a team. The team practices on Fridays from 1-4 p.m. beginning Sept. 9.. Practices will not occur during the week of November 18-25 for fall break. The first competition will most likely occur on either Dec. 3 or 10.
The Competition Team will participate in the First Lego League’s Challenge Division. All competitions are eliminations with only the top scoring teams moving on to the next competition in January. Competitions are day-long events held in Reno on Saturdays.
To join the Lego Robotics Competition Team students should sign-up now through Register My Athlete (RMA) at https://registermyathlete.com/.
Contact Coach Kathy Keitz at kkeitz@oanv.org with any questions.
Oasis Golf tournament Oct. 15
The third annual Oasis Academy Golf Tournament will be held Oct. 15 at the Fallon Golf Course. This tournament will include prizes, a raffle, and lunch sponsored by Manpower of Northern Nevada.
To register for the tournament contact Angela Viera at aviera@oanv.org or by calling 775-742-0506.