Since 2010, a group of students from Rowan County Middle School have traveled to Washington DC to experience firsthand the plethora of history in our nation’s capital. Now, fifteen years later, Kristin Hood, the Rowan County Gifted Coordinator is preparing for another group visit. Due to COVID restrictions, there was no group travel in 2020 or 2021, but 102 students and parent chaperones are packing their bags to leave Morehead on a charter bus in October. The Morehead Optimist Club is once again providing funding in the amount of $9,500.00 for ten (10) students who might otherwise have been unable to make the trip because of financial constraints.
The Optimist Club has contributed more than $100,000 over the years to enable 130 kids to make the trip with ten scholarships each year. “This is one of the best programs that we sponsor,” said Club President Bill Redwine. “Travel is such a very important part of the educational process, and we are fortunate to be in a position to help,” he added. Kristen Hood added, “the Optimist Club makes it possible for ten kids to experience this, sometimes life altering experience, who might otherwise not be able to participate.”
During the five-day trip, the students and their chaperones will visit such landmarks as the Capitol, the National Gallery of Art, the Viet Nam War Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, Mt. Vernon, the Washington Zoo, and Arlington National Cemetery where they will participate in the laying of a wreath.
The Morehead Optimist Club has been supporting youth programs in Morehead and Rowan County since their founding in 1964. Other programs and service projects that the Club is involved in include youth sports, high school theatre, youth golf, cheerleading, “Respect for Law” and a host of other activities through charitable bingo at Cave Run Bingo.
Optimist International is one of the world’s largest service club organizations with over 80,000 adult and youth members in almost 3,000 clubs in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and Mexico and throughout the world. Carrying the motto “Bringing Out the Best in Youth, in our Communities, and in Ourselves,” Optimists conduct positive service projects that reach more than six million young people each year. To learn more about Optimist International, please call (314) 371-6000 or visit the organization’s website at www.optimist.org. For information about the Morehead Optimist Club, please contact Bill Redwine at (606)356-0666 or visit our website at http://www.moreheadoptimist.com.
