April 2023

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Members of the Corning 4H worked toward earning their green thumbs while helping to plant vegetables at the Corning Community Garden on Wednesday, April 12. Blaine Rockwell, Kade McKinney, Charlie Swint, Kenzi Masterson, and Loreli White helped to plant peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, and squash and watered the plants that were donated by Corning residents Chad and Kelli Watson.

This morning I made big mistake. I happened to look at myself in the mirror as I walked by. Holy Cow, Larry! I almost mean that literally, lol. Yes, I do know that it is a tendency for all of us to put on a little weight in our golden years. Those raging hormones that help to keep us trim close their little eyes after years of raging and take a nap on the couch. Our physical duties become less, and we start to get a craving for “comfort foods.” After passing the mirror, my next step was the kitchen; the site of the battlefield over nutrition and self-satisfaction. I opened the refrigerator door and spied a container of applesauce. Well…, ok, I will have some applesauce with a teaspoon of Ceylon cinnamon. That is a heart healthy snack, right? I held the jar up and looked at the ingredient list. Hmmm, “Apples, sugar, water, ascorbic acid, (to maintain color).” Yeah, sugar, the very second ingredient. Apples already have sugar in the form of fructose, so why add more sugar? And apples are an acidic fruit, and we need to maintain the color? C’mon. But it is all like that. Packaged, canned, boxed foods all have unneeded and mostly unwanted ingredients, some of them downright toxic. You have heard me rant about nitrates and nitrites, BHA, and BHT. And monosodium glutamate. But we all know this. But we wake of a morning, with brain in neutral, eyes widely shut, and stagger through the first hour, many bolstered with countless cups of coffee (which is not good for you either), and smoke those morning cigarettes, (which are just about good for you as bullets). Then off to work, or school, or whatever the day demands, resupplying our fuel at the local McDonalds or Burger King or personal choice of fast food where, here again, we are overloaded with fat, salt, or more sugar. They are America’s drugs of choice, along with alcohol, which is terrible for you as well, destroying more livers than chickens donate for Sunday dinner. Yes, alcohol. Alcoholic beverages con

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First year Corning FFA members, also called Greenhands, served dinner during the 2023 CHS prom last Friday night at the M.B. Ainley, Jr. Community Center. The servers were: Leslie Dobbins, Taytum Whitley, Kilee Burkheart, Julie Nipper, and Abby Staggs.

Last week we celebrated two important groups of people, our School Librarians and Paraprofessionals. School Librarians Day was celebrated on April 4, allowing us to formally appreciate professionals that help us become lifelong readers and learners. Corning School District is proud to have Mrs. Melanie Riley as our Park Elementary School Librarian and Mrs. Mary Beaird as our CMS and CHS School Librarian. These two ladies play a huge role in our student success! They have had a tremendous impact on our students’ reading passion, research skills, and overall success at school. Our school librarians not only maintain well-organized, comfortable, and inviting spaces for our kids to read but they also manage library technology, assist students and staff with everyday requests, and plan activities for students without asking for anything in return.

Corning Middle School hosted a sports-themed Testing Boot Camp during the week of April 10 for students in grades 5-8 who will be taking the ACT Aspire on Thursday, April 20 and Friday, April 21. The week included inspiring and fun activities including paper run-throughs for each class designed by Mrs. Christina Patterson-Swint and her art students. Students also attempted to guess who the CMS faculty were in featured sports photos from when they were children. The school also enjoyed team spirit dress up days: Monday Baseball/Softball, Tuesday - Volleyball, Wednesday- Football & Cheer, Thursday - Basketball, and Friday - All Sports.