It never ceases to amaze me how awesome this small town is! The 4th of July celebration was no exception! I’ll never forget my first parade here. I knew the football team and cheerleaders were having a float, so I assumed there may be one or two other floats! Boy, was I surprised when there were enough floats, bikes, golf carts and horses to make the line go around the Church of Christ! For those of you in larger towns I’m sure that seems small, but I bet you can’t say that over 90% of your town was in attendance!This year’s parade was just as great! The junior high cheerleaders had a fire truck while the high school squad cooled everyone off with water guns! The high school football players sported their new jerseys while junior high and pee wee players and cheerleaders shared the float. I even saw a possible write-in candidate for the 2012 Presidential campaign cruising in his golf cart driven by campaign managers Dan and Esther Cox! Pippo, you are one creative....sock monkey!!Mr. Harris and several FFA members will be traveling to the State FFA convention in Corpus Christi this week. They will be walking the stage to accept their official charter as an FFA chapter on Wednesday. Good luck to members Burnam Sloan, who will be riding bulls, and Barbara Uribe, who will be participating in the state Spanish creed speaking contest.In the coming weeks I’ll be introducing our new faculty members. This week’s spotlight is on our principal, Ms. Barbara Irick. Ms. Irick shared with me some of her favorite activities, and she told me why she wanted to become a teacher and administrator.Favorites: a good steak, reading a great book on a lazy Saturday, hanging out with friends, gardening and seeing light bulbs go off in children as they learn.Hobbies: gardening, flea markets and antique shops, and reading.Dream vacation spot: traveling to Ireland or Italy with no specific agenda.Who inspired you to become an administrator? A former principal, Nancy Alana, inspired me to continue my pursuit in administration. She had such quiet grace, knowledge of her position and compassion for education and children. If I can be half of what she is, I’ll be blessed. Who was your favorite teacher? Mr. Moratity, my fifth grade teacher. Back then the classes were divided into the high class and low class (red birds and blue birds). Mr. Moratity was the first person who believed that I could do better and I wanted to prove it to him. I was an A student the rest of my life. It took one person to show me that we can all be that encouraging person for the students in our lives.We’re excited to have Ms. Irick with us and she’s excited to get to know each of you.