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Six local educators have received $150 mini-grants for the coming school year. Their applications were screened and scored by the members of the Aurora High School Leadership classes (also known as A-Tech I and A-Tech II).

The grants are awarded from Youth Empowerment Project, an arm of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. YEP believes in promoting history, literacy, climate, culture, storytelling, fundraising, philanthropy, problem-solving and paying it forward.

Congratulations to this year's winners.

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Aurora High School Graduate Hannah (Isaacson) Rader earned the All Roads Lead Home Award at this year's Chamber Banquet in behalf of her family and crew at The Garden Exchange. 

They are always busy making the Summit City look and feel like a Hallmark movie!

They have brought color, fun, celebrations and spirit to an all new level in downtown Aurora in the wake of a pandemic and questionable economic times.

The Raders love Aurora and Aurora loves them right back.

They have proved the adage true once again--that all roads really do lead HOME.

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A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. Those are words we should all learn to live by.

Several community members took the time to honor Chuck Burbridge last week as our most recent Loyd R. Ellis honoree.

The award is given each year by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce to someone who has given much to the community. The second highest award is presented in honor of an Auroran who believed in community service and leaving a legacy.

Join us this week as we talk about Chuck Burbridge and what he means to us as a leader, collaborator and team player.

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Aurora Administrator Ed Cook has been gone for over 35 years.

His legacy lives on today with scholarships, projects and activities designed to encourage leadership, ethics and sense of place in the rural Ozarks--a place he loved.

Ed Cook was a teacher, mentor, coach and friend.

He was resilient.

He loved Aurora. He loved being a Houn' Dawg.

It was an honor to present a scholarship in his memory last week at Aurora High School.

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With last week's storms and tornado outbreaks, my husband made a bad joke about pulling over to the side of the road and seeing the old lady go by on a bicycle. It took me a minute--while he stifled a nervous chuckle. I told him I got the reference, but it might be too soon to be cracking any jokes.

Humor is a coping skill at our house, though; we laugh about most everything--because simply--crying takes too much out of us in our old age!

That said, it did get me to thinking a little bit about some Wizard of Oz comparisons. And, at the end of the day, Dorothy was absolutely right!

There's no place like home.

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As April rolls out with a few disruptions, I have been contemplating events from April's past. Join me in some reflections on old friends like Frank Peterson, motherhood and moving forward.

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My mom and dad would have celebrated their 79th anniversary on April 15th, tax day, if they were still here. I'm sure they are celebrating in Heaven.

The day had me contemplating their legacies, their love story and the lives of those they impacted in both Arkansas and Missouri (and beyond) during the course of their lives.

Please join me in a trip down memory lane to pay tribute to those blue eyes, relentless spirits and hearts full of passion for doing the right things.

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As we continue to celebrate our Easter season, we are reminded of the concepts of sacrifice, redemption and unconditional love.

We chose to honor two local heroes with the planting of some trees at the Aurora Houn' Dawg Alumni & Outreach Center earlier this month.

Along with some special guests, we planted a dogwood tree and a redbud tree on the facility's southeast lawn.

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The 2025 Rotary Speech Contest is over, but we are still talking about those speeches at Aurora High School.

Senior Kylee Cole placed first this year, while Jaelyn Ernest was second. Malaya Todd was third and Seth Shoemaker placed fourth. These kids knocked it out of the park by being brave enough to tell Aurora's leaders about the things that matter most to them as they get ready to embark on adulthood themselves.

To say I am proud is an understatement.

What would you talk about if you had a room full of people who had to listen to you for at least five minutes?

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Ben Tracy, a national spokesman about online safety, will be here in Aurora on Wednesday, April 9th.

Here's hoping we give him a good, old-fashioned Houn' Dawg welcome as he comes to town to teach us about online predators and things we can do to protect our children.

I hope to see you at Aurora High School Wednesday evening, April 9th. Doors open at 5:15 p.m. The program starts at 6 p.m.