Summer Harrell is originally from Oklahoma but has been living in Natchitoches for the past 23 years. She started her banking career at City Bank in 2012 as a Paying and Receiving Teller. Over the years, she has taken on various roles within the bank, including Head Teller at the University and Keyser Branch, Administrative Assistant/Retail Banking Specialist, and Assistant Branch Manager. Currently, she serves as a Branch Administrator/Banking Officer. Summer oversees the Bank at School program for City Bank and visits NSU E-Lab School and St. Mary’s School for monthly deposits. She is married to Wesley Harrell and is a proud mother of two. In her free time, she enjoys camping, fishing, and playing with her animals. Summer is a devoted member of the Bridge Church and can often be found volunteering at events in Natchitoches.  

The Natchitoches Parish Tourist Commission held its regular scheduled meeting for the month on May 21, entering into executive session to discuss matters related to the search for the new executive director for the Natchitoches Convention and Visitors Bureau. This meeting came after a special called meeting on May 14 to discuss the same matter. Retiring Executive Director Arlene Gould’s last day is June 28.

The commission voted to offer the executive director position to one of three potential candidates, but due to one candidate requesting confidentiality through the hiring process, no candidate names were discussed outside of the executive session. “Candidate No. 3” was chosen. Commission Chairman Landon Amberg said the next steps involve offering the selected candidate the position, giving them 24 hours to consider it. If the candidate accepts the job, paperwork will be sent to them to sign and the commission can officially announce the news. If the job is declined, the commission will have to look to the two remaining candidates.

Brittany Metoyer was born and raised in Natchitoches, LA. She has been with City Bank 2 years as a Paying and Receiving Teller. Brittany has been promoted to Head Teller of our Keyser Avenue Branch.

Brittany is married to Sedrick Paige. She has 2 daughters (Dextany and Imani), 1 son (Skylor) and 1 grand daughter on the way whom she adores. In her spare time, Brittany enjoys fishing, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.

By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services

 “Well, I’ve been known to write a few songs
Lovin’ and leavin’ and getting’ too stoned
Bottle and a pistol by my side
The devil’s always along for the ride”

 Last Saturday, he opened for country music star Jason Aldean.

June 20^th, he will take the stage ahead of Morgan Wallen – the first of a few dates with one of country music’s biggest names.

Not bad for a guy from Logansport, who twice attempted to kill himself.

“I try not to even stop and think about (my success),” Bryan Martin told the Shreveport-Bossier Journal, a few hours before performing in Oklahoma on Aldean’s Highway Desperado tour. “I’m afraid I’m going to wake up and go, ‘Oh, shi_. I just stumped my toe trying to get in the camper one night and this has all been a dream.’  It’s been amazing. It’s been crazy.”

Martin, who was born in Shreveport and grew up in DeSoto Parish, has Billboard Country’s 16^th ranked song with We Ride, from his album Poets and Old Souls. Other charts have the hit song ranked even higher.”

“It just blows me away to be sitting in the Top 10 on country radio and thinking about where all I’ve been and what all I’ve been through. Never in a million years would I have thought I would even be sitting here talking to you about it. It’s just crazy.”

The fact that the 36-year-old, who bounced between schools in Logansport and Stanley before dropping out, is “even sitting here” is something of a miracle. Martin went to work on an oil rig for almost a year before enlisting in the Army. Confusion about whether he should have been accepted led to an uncharacterized discharge, which led to Martin trying to kill himself. He wrote We Ride based off a suicide written when he was 19 years old.

“I felt like a failure. I’ve never quit a job – never been sent home from a job. When I came back home, that’s when I took (30) Percocet’s, and I misfired a .357 Magnum . . . . I remember waking up the next morning and not feeling the effects of the drugs or the alcohol. That blew my mind . . . . I put that bullet back in the gun and took out all the other bullets. I pretty much cussed God and asked, ‘Why are you saving me now? It’s too late to save me.’”

But as many a preacher will tell you it wasn’t too late. Martin was saved. He went into the ministry and was sober for six years. But later, Martin went through a divorce. Then came Covid, which kept him from working.

“Same thing like the military. I just felt like a failure sitting at the house. I couldn’t draw a check. I was going crazy. I couldn’t make the music make sense. I couldn’t make money. I was pulled apart. I went back to drinking again.”

That led to another suicide attempt just three years ago – two days before his divorce was became final. Martin drove off an embankment.

“I went through a really bad brain injury and lost most of my memory. I couldn’t remember any of my songs (he had written close to 800) . . . . I had to pretty much re-teach myself how to play my own songs.”

In the process, Martin proved his doctors wrong.

“They told me I wasn’t ever going to be able to write again because of that brain injury. When I went to writing again (Martin credits medicine for ADHD), I couldn’t stop. The last three years, I’ve done what they told me I couldn’t do in the next 15 (years). The last six months, I’ve done what they said I couldn’t do in the next 10 (years).”

Martin was discovered while performing with some of his Tic Tok friends, who put together a music and comedy tour. But Martin’s current success came fast.

“A year and a half ago, I was on a barstool playing for $400 a night.”

Needing to be close to Nashville, Tennessee, Martin now lives in a town south of the country music capital. His schedule doesn’t allow him to return to Logansport often, where his mother (Donna) and father (David) still live. Martin has been back home four or five times in the last two-and-a-half years.

“When you catch a little breeze, you’ve got to ride with it. It’s a dream come true. Right now, it’s been able to afford me to retire my dad. I’m a long way from retiring, but to retire my dad is something I’ve always dreamed of doing.”

During his younger days, Martin was a frequent visitor to Bossier City.

“I would always spend my money at the arcade at the (Louisiana) Boardwalk. I went to the movies, and anywhere else I could get into. I got into the Rockin’ Rodeo (nightclub) one night. I sang Tracy Lawrence’s Sticks and Stones. That was my first time singing in front of people, at karaoke at the Rockin’ Rodeo.”

Right now, Martin is living the dream, a long way from singing karaoke. But if Martin ends up being a one-hit-wonder, that will be just fine with him. Martin has his songwriting talents to fall back on.

“If people are living life and going through struggles, somebody out there will relate to what I’m going to write next, or what I have coming out next. As long as real life is happening, I think I’ve got a pretty good chance at (staying successful), now that I’ve broke through and gained a few ears.”

But Martin’s professional life isn’t the only thing that’s better than ever.

“I’ve been dating my ex-wife (Bobbie Jo) for three years. It’s been going good. It’s the best it’s ever going to be. We get along good. If we don’t, it’s like, well, we’ll get over it. This time, you ain’t taking everything when you leave.”

Hmmm . . . . Sounds like the makings of a good Bryan Martin-written song.

Contact Tony at SBJTonyT@gmail.com.

Winning looks good and losing looks bad, no matter the uniform.

The sharpest unis in the world are lipstick on a pig if the gang wearing them can’t play. (Happens more often than you’d think.)

They’ll never create a jersey that’ll make an “L” look like a “W.”

But if you look sharp (or even just think you do), you tend to play better. Which brings us to Louisiana Tech’s Diamond Dogs, who’ve won the regular season Conference USA championship and looked good doing it.

A bonus, baby.

The Dapper Dogs have a secret weapon here in the formidable duo of trainer/director of baseball operations Dan Takata and associate pitching coach Matt Miller, a former righthanded starter for Tech who punched out 97 opposing batters in 2019 on his way to becoming all-conference and a Bulldog Man, (which translates to Team Captain for Life, nice work if you can earn it).

Looking good, these two dudes.

In his transition from player to coach, Miller drew up a Columbia Blue uniform that Adidas spun into reality in 2021. For a while, it was all the rage; the Dogs couldn’t seem to lose in what they called their Sunday Blues. (There’s a new version now, still sharper than a barber’s blade.)

Meanwhile, in the Uniform Lab, Matt and Dan were cooking up something even more special. For everyone to “wear.”

Shortly after the tornado of April 2019 shuttered J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park, Marucci Sports gifted the Team Without A Ballpark with good-looking T-shirts the Dogs used as batting jerseys. On the front was “Ruston Strong” with an outline of the City of Ruston.

The Dogs get a new set of jerseys every year or two, and our hardball fashionistas started thinking …

What if the team incorporated Ruston into a jersey? After all, it was Ruston who flocked to the new J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park in May of 2021 and took part in what might be the Greatest Two Weeks Running in Tech Athletic History. The Diamond Dogs played 16 straight home games — thank you, Baseball Gods — hosted the conference tournament and the first Ruston Regional, and even though the Dogs lost in the finals of both, The Love Shack turned into something between Woodstock in Cleats and Field of Dreams for those glorious dozen days.

Meanwhile in major league baseball, a trend called “City Connect” had begun. You’ll see big leaguers playing in jerseys with “Cincy” or “Philly” on the front. The Cubs have a “Wrigleyville” jersey, the White Sox a “South Side” top, Detroit some “Motor City” digs. Astros fans know their teams’ “Space City” jerseys.

And so …

Last year the jerseys debuted. Black with “Ruston” in script across the front, big white numbers on the back, and both filled with the red, white and blue of the country’s flag. Also on the back, the blue patch that’s the outline of the City of Ruston. a perfect understated tribute and hat tip to a town that’s embraced a group of guys easy to pull for.

While the jerseys were created more to remember the way the city and area and University reacted as a team to the 2019 tornado, it has grown into more of a tribute to a town from a grateful team, a way of saying “thank you” (as much as one can through a cotton/wool/polyester blend).

City Connect.

Granted, they’ve worked better this year than last, when the Dogs struggled to finish just below .500. (Long, loooong story.) But this year, with those City Connect jerseys good and broken in, with more strikes being thrown and a longer lineup and a chemistry that demands accountability, the Bulldogs are 41-15 overall, 18-6 in the league, and a hearty 26-5 in the welcoming Love Shack.

To paraphrase the late great entertainer/songwriter/musician/stud Glen Frey, Louisiana Tech’s Diamond Dogs belong to the city. They’re a group of seniors led by the last of the Tornado Team, left fielder and Bulldog Man Adarius Myers. Then there’s The Law Firm of McConnell, McCloud & Corona, a trio that remembers playing at Ruston High when the team had no park.

And now the just-right accessories, too many to mention. But they’re all wearing the same thing, like their hearts on their sleeves, and that makes it awfully easy to pull for the guys in the good-looking gear, the ones playing for each other, and for the name on the front of the jerseys.

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu

Natchitoches Parish Veterans and Memorial Park Committee will present the annual Memorial Day Program at 10 A.M. on Monday, May 27 at the Veterans and Memorial Park, beside the Courthouse and Lasyone’s Restaurant.  Chairs will be provided, however if you may bring your own chair if you wish.  

This June will mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings that drove the final nail into the coffin of Nazi Germany. The Normandy invasion and the soldiers who fought there were commemorated in an event known as the Norwegian Foot March, Saturday and Sunday, May 18-19. The event was hosted by the US Army Recruiting Company for our area and was held at Barksdale Air Force Base. Airmen from Barksdale also assisted with the march.

The Norwegian Foot March began in 1915 as a way for the Norwegian Army to increase their readiness for WWI. The march is over a 30 kilometer (18.6 mile) course and must be completed in duty uniform and carrying a 25 lb. rucksack. It is by no means an easy event! To give an idea of the march’s difficulty, a 60+ year old man has only 5 hours and 15 minutes to complete the march. The event has increased in popularity over the years and marches are held in every NATO country. Persons completing the Norwegian Foot March earn the Marsjmerket badge which is awarded in bronze, silver, and gold, depending on the number of times the individual completes the event.

There were over 170 marchers from Fort Johnson, Little Rock Air Force Base, Camp Shelby, and Barksdale Air Force Base. Major Joseph Davis and First Sergeant Raymond McDowell of the NSU Army ROTC Demon Battalion both completed the march. Air Force veteran and NPJ writer Kevin Shannahan was one of three civilians and was the oldest marcher at the event. He completed 12 miles of the course.

Spending an evening with your brothers and sisters doing something difficult and worthwhile was indeed a fitting way to commemorate the soldiers who landed at Normandy Beach and freed the world from Nazi tyranny.

Ahead of Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28, employee volunteers at the International Paper (NYSE: IP) Red River Mill in Campti partnered with students at Lakeview High School to assemble 500 menstrual health kits to end period poverty. The kits were donated to Natchitoches Parish Schools to benefit students. 

“This year, we were really excited to partner with GLAMM at Lakeview and additional students to help break down the barriers that prevent individuals from managing their menstrual health with dignity,” said Alexa Steele, Communications Coordinator at the Red River Mill. “Their enthusiasm for this event and commitment to making a difference in our community was truly inspiring.” 

“GLAMM at Lakeview is dedicated to enhance the lives of young women and we were very appreciative to International Paper for coming to our school to bring awareness to this very important issue,” shared Chanda Goff, GLAMM Sponsor. 

Period poverty is a term used to describe the struggle that many women and girls face because they lack access to adequate menstrual health supplies and education. Each year, more than 500 million people worldwide do not have what they need to manage their periods. It’s an issue that leads to a number of problems like school truancy, reproductive issues, health risks and unnecessary shame. 

Period poverty is happening here in our community, and we are here to help. International Paper’s fluff pulp goes into more than 100 billion menstrual care pads each year. The Red River Mill’s Menstrual Health packing event is just another way to illustrate International Paper’s commitment to addressing a critical need in the communities where IP employees live and work by mobilizing people, products, and resources. 

Dr. Meryn Olivier, a nurse for 17 years, a family nurse practitioner for nine years and nursing instructor for eight years, said her career goals are simple: to make a difference in the lives of the patients she treats and the students she teaches. Olivier enrolled in the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program offered through Northwestern State University’s College of Nursing, completing the degree in 2021. Her bachelor’s and master’s degrees are from Nicholls State University.  

Olivier pursued the Organizational Systems Leadership (OSL) track, one of two tracks offered through NSU’s DNP program. Both are rigorous and highly selective.  Graduates are prepared to become organizational leaders who impact healthcare through advanced clinical skills, translating evidence into practice and establishing policies to improve outcomes. In completing the doctoral degree, students develop strong leadership and communication skills and are required to research, develop and implement a healthcare improvement project.  

Olivier began the program when she was an assistant professor in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing programs at Nicholls. She was a longtime resident of Houma, recently relocated to Zachary and is currently employed as a family nurse practitioner for Premier Health in Baton Rouge and as an adjunct professor for Northwestern State. She is a strong proponent of the DNP experience at NSU.  

NSU visited with Olivier about her career and motivation for seeking the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree and how it has impacted her career.  

NSU: Can you tell me a bit about yourself and your career goals?  

Olivier:  My nursing background is primarily in critical care with my advanced practice background primarily in orthopedics and urgent care medicine. I have been an assistant professor in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing and the Master of Science in Nursing programs at Nicholls State University and have taught various courses within both tracks. I have also taught in an adjunct capacity for various courses within the NSU DNP and MSN programs over the last two years. I believe that in this world so many people have a goal to be “successful,” but I really strive to be “significant” in the lives of the people I serve.  

NSU: What motivated you to enroll in the program and where were you in your career at the time?  

Olivier: As an assistant professor within an undergraduate nursing program, I saw the opportunity to enroll in the DNP program as a stepping stone to become more proficient in my field and also step towards earning the terminal degree. This also would allow me to teach within an MSN program and impact the APRN [Advanced Practice Registered Nurse] students with my own knowledge and abilities as a current APRN. I was also practicing in a very busy urgent care setting at the time and recognized various areas of practice which may be benefit from further knowledge and research application.  

NSU: What were some challenges and rewards of completing the OSL program?  Did you learn anything surprising about yourself?   

Olivier: I remained employed full time in academia and part time in practice during the OSL program, as well as being a married mother to three small children. That in itself presented its own challenges with managing time well. However, COVID-19 also began a few months before the implementation of my DNP project, limiting access to clinics.  Also [there were] new protections required by IRB [Institutional Review Board] before the project could begin. Through this, however, I learned true resiliency and the ability to restructure prior plans to still be successful and impactful. One reward of the program was the relationships that I was able to form with the amazing faculty of the NSU DNP program. Being able to network with them and improve in my own academic and practice areas was an unexpected outcome for me. My greatest reward was the completion of my DNP project and the impact it has had on my own research but also within the urgent care setting that I continue to practice in. My work was truly one that I was passionate about and that the participants of the project also became passionate about.  

NSU: What was your community impact project?  

Olivier: My DNP project focused on the self-confidence, knowledge and psychomotor skill performance of emergency response in the urgent care setting. I focused specifically on the Basic Life Support (BLS) certification that all members of the organization possessed for employment and the ability to execute those skills, but also their knowledge of them and confidence in performance. The results were substantial and supported the new guidelines that American Heart Association (AHA) had just published. It was truly a work of mind, body and spirit.  

NSU: How did this program impact you as a person and a professional?   

Olivier: The DNP OSL program molded me as a leader within both of my professions — as an instructor and as a healthcare provider. As a member of academia, I was able to become a leader in my field and use knowledge gained within the 8 DNP Essentials to broaden the depth of my comprehension and application of the various topics. This allowed me to help my students excel as well in the level of their own graduate education and have an instructor resource that was accountable in these areas.  

As a healthcare provider, the DNP-OSL program strengthened my clinical practice and expanded the impact of my practice on factors affecting my patients including systems thinking, information technology, healthcare policy, population health and interprofessional collaboration.  

I am now not just a patient’s provider at the time of the clinic visit. I am advocating for our profession on multiple platforms within our state legislature, the business organization and collaborators in professional organizations.  

NSU: What would you say to someone who might be a good candidate for the program?   

Olivier: If you are contemplating the achievement of your DNP, you already recognize the value and importance this advanced degree offers in your skill set, knowledge and comprehensiveness as an Advanced Practice Nurse. The DNP-OSL program at NSU offers you the ability to excel in each area of the DNP essential curriculum and gain knowledge from leaders within the profession. The breadth of engagement and instruction within the Northwestern program are unsurpassed.  

NSU: Any final thoughts you’d like to share?   

Olivier: You have many options for DNP programs when you are ready to make the leap to doctoral education. Northwestern State University’s DNP program allows you to experience graduate education at the highest quality and with the most up-to-date professional standards. The faculty are committed to the mission and vision of the College of Nursing but also to you as a student and your individual learning goals. The road of graduate education is not an easy one and will require you to be invested, engaged and dedicated. At NSU, you have classmates, faculty and administrators that meet you in each one of those requirements as well.   

Information on the Doctor of Nursing Practice and other degree programs offered through NSU’s College of Nursing and School of Allied Health is available at https://www.nsula.edu/nursing/.   

In addition, the following awards were presented during the ceremony: 

The American Legion Patriotism Award was given to Drake Griffin by the Gordon Peters Post of Natchitoches. This award is given to one male student who has set an example of patriotism, loyalty, and leadership. 

The Louisiana Sheriff’s Honorary Membership Scholarship was given to Ava Errington.  This program has awarded 63 scholarships in the state of Louisiana. Sheriff Stuart Wright with the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office is an affiliate of the Honorary Membership Program and is able to award three scholarships to students from Natchitoches parish. Trent is the overall winner of one of these three scholarships. 

The Mayor’s Award was presented to Sophia Hogg.  This award is given to a senior who demonstrates outstanding leadership and community service to St. Mary’s, the City of Natchitoches, and the State of Louisiana.

The Bishop Martin Award was presented to Colton Cross.  This award is given to a student that has led by example, attempted to maintain and exhibit Catholic Christian values, and have taken advantage of the religious foundation offered at St. Mary’s to reach their full potential spiritually, academically, and physically.

St. Mary’s is a Catholic, co-educational college preparatory school that educates students from preschool through twelfth grade.  It is a ministry of the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception Church.

The Northwestern Hills Golf Course will hold a Natchitoches Youth Golf Camp June 4-6 from 8:30-11 :30 am, sponsored by Natchitoches Golf Association.

The camp is open to girls and boys ages 7-15. The fee is $60 a person.

Attendees will focus on skill work on putting, chipping and driving. Instructors will spend time each day on the three. Youth golf clubs are available to any child that might need them for the golf camp. There will be a Drive, Chip and Putt contest at the end of each day. Snacks and cold drinks will be provided.

Call 318-357-6300 or Johnny Cox at 318-481-5300

Not many people reach legendary status.

But there’s one man who lives just across the Louisiana/Texas line that falls into the category of a legend.

He’s a guy who for years has conducted the greatest bass tournaments in the world. He’s become so big that National Geographic came to East Texas and did a one-hour special on his amateur bass tournament trail. His name: Bob Sealy! He is the owner and creator of the Bob Sealy Big Bass Splash Series.

Back in the 1980’s, Bob had this great idea to conduct a big bass tournament on Lake Sam Rayburn as part of an initiative to bring tourism to the lake area. Little did he know that 40 years later it would explode nationwide, and now globally, as anglers all over the country and the world come and compete in one of his many big bass tournaments held all across the South.

Bob was also the guy who sat down with Ray Scott, the founder of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.), and convinced him to bring a professional bass tournament to Sam Rayburn. This brought national exposure to the area as Sam Rayburn became one of the legendary lakes in America with its reputation for producing huge bass and 30-pound tournament winning stringers.

Why so much success over a bass tournament? What has been the reason so many people have come and continue to make their way to all Bob Sealy events? It’s all due to a simple formula Bob figured out a long time ago. He realized most anglers will never have the opportunity to make the kind of money professional bass fishing offers. That’s when he came up with the slogan, “Where amateurs win like the pros!” As they say, the rest is history!

Another reason for the Sealy success is the fact that Bob does what he says he will do. Early on when he started these big bass tournaments, he took a few financial losses mainly due to the promises he had made. There were times when he did not have enough entries to cover the amount he was giving away. Bob still wrote checks and borrowed money from the bank in order to make sure everyone got paid.

Another example of why Bob has had so much success is his willingness to give. There’s one aspect of all Sealy tournaments where he offers $5,000 each day for any angler that weighs an exact 3.00, 4.00, or 5.00-pound bass. Even if no one weighs in an exact size bass, he will put all the entries from the tournament into a hopper and will draw a random name to give away three $5,000 checks. Most tournaments would just pocket this money and move on. Not Bob Sealy. He wants anglers to walk away with money in their pocket!

These are just a few reasons why Bob Sealy has so many participants follow his tournament trail. Bob does what he says he will do, no matter what the cost. This is the key to any successful bass fishing circuit. Anglers only want two things: enforce the rules and make sure the payout is exactly what each event says it will be.

We salute Bob Sealy on his commitment and dedication to making this tournament trail so successful. Sealy events are for all weekend warriors who love to fish. It’s also about family by offering something for all ages with plenty of food, entertainment and kids fishing division. As a member of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame and the Outdoors Hall of Fame, Bob continues to set the bar for all bass tournaments.

This article would not be complete without recognizing and thanking the entire Sealy Outdoors staff and volunteers who coordinate and make all Sealy events possible. Without these folks, the Bob Sealy Big Bass Splash would not be possible.

To learn more about the Sealy Big Bass Splash Series of tournaments go to sealyoutdoors.com.

‘Til next time, good luck, good fishing and when in doubt — set the hook.

Contact Steve at sgraf26@yahoo.com

Two Northwestern State University (NSU) Bass Fishing teams have secured their spots in the 2025 Major League Fishing (MLF) College Fishing National Championship. Evan Howe of Keatchie and Noah Trant of Bossier City, along with Stone Smith of Shreveport and Drake Wadsworth of Grand Cane, clinched their spots after impressive performances at Table Rock Lake in Missouri, finishing 23rd and 26th, respectively. 

Qualifying for the MLF college fishing national championship is no easy feat. Teams must first compete in qualifying tournaments, where they vie for a chance to advance to the national stage. At these events, teams accumulate points based on their finishes, with the top teams earning invitations to the prestigious national championship. The Northwestern State University Bass Fishing Team competes against highly regarded universities across the nation including Tennessee, Auburn, ULM, LA Tech, Florida, LSU, Alabama, Texas A&M, Arkansas and Oklahoma State. 

Currently ranked 6^th in the country in MLF, NSU’s Bass Fishing Team’s success is a testament to their dedication and skill in the sport. The Demons have consistently demonstrated their prowess on the water. The recent qualifications for the national championship by Howe/Trant and Smith/Wadsworth have further solidified NSU’s status as a force in collegiate bass fishing. 

For Howe and Trant, the journey to qualifying for the 2025 championship follows their participation in the 2024 MLF National Championship at Lake Toho in Florida where they finished 28th, showcasing their growth and determination in the sport. In addition to his participation in collegiate team fishing events, Howe has also ventured into professional tournaments competing in the MLF Toyota Series and finishing 29th.  

NSU’s success in MLF has bolstered the Demon Bass Fishing Team’s standings in the Association of Collegiate Anglers (ACA) School of the Year program. The program recognizes points earned from various collegiate bass fishing tournaments, including those sanctioned by MLF and B.A.S.S. The Demons are currently ranked 32^nd overall in the ACA out of hundreds of schools across the nation reflecting their consistent performance and competitive edge in collegiate fishing.  

Looking ahead, the Demons will be back on the water again next week with two teams representing the university at the ACA National Championship at Pickwick Lake on the Alabama/Tennessee border. As they continue to make their mark in the college fishing world, fans eagerly anticipate their future achievements and successes.  

For more information on the NSU Bass Fishing Team, email owensd@nsula.edu.  

The Natchitoches Parish School Board is looking for certified, high-quality teachers to fill current vacancies at our schools. Receive a stipend to join our team today!

Visit http://www.teachnatchitoches.com to apply now!

2024 Stipend Eligibility

• Must hold a valid teaching license from Louisiana or another state. (PL, TAT, or any other temporary credential is not applicable).
• Must not have been employed as a teacher in the district in the past 3 years.
• Must agree to teach in the district for at least 2 years from their effective date of hire.*

*Failure to meet this requirement will result in a request for partial or full repayment of stipend received.

Who Should Apply?

• K-12 teachers from outside of the district who desire to relocate to Natchitoches Parish.
• K-12 teachers who are entering the profession for the first time.
• Retirees who wish to return to work as a full-time teacher after 3 years.

Incentive Levels

$5K Teachers in their first and second consecutive years of teaching or who do not have CIS data

$10K Teachers with 3 consecutive years of Effective scores on CIS data

$15K Teachers with 2 consecutive years of Highly Effective scores on CIS data

$20K Teachers with over 2 consecutive years of Highly Effective on CIS data

*Stipend will be paid within 30 days of hire, date not to exceed September 15, 2024.

*HR Director/Superintendent can decide eligibility outside of the above rubric and increase stipends based on workforce needs when necessary.

For more information go online to npsb.la or email recruiting@npsb.com.

Natchitoches Parish Schools are proud to offer Jump Start Summers again this year for all high school juniors and seniors interested in jump-starting their career after graduation.

Jump Start Summers 2024 provide the opportunity for students to earn a Carnegie credit, a stipend of $700, experience with industry partners, and a Jump Start industry-based credential.

Through Jump Start Summers, students will have the opportunity to choose between courses in Welding and IT Fundamentals.

Jump Start Summers will take place from May 28, 2024, through June 30, 2024. Classes will be conducted Monday through Friday from 8am to 2pm. Lunch and transportation will be provided each day.

Applications for Jump Start Summers close on Thursday, May 23, 2024, at 11:59 p.m.

If you are interested in applying, please complete an application at forms.office.com/r/UnYkkGaUJ1.

COME HELP US GROW STRONG EARLY READERS IN NATCHITOCHES PARISH SCHOOLS!

Are you passionate about making a difference in the lives of young readers? Do you have a knack for teaching phonics and literacy skills?

If so, we want YOU to join our dynamic team of educators!

Join us in our mission to ensure every child becomes a confident reader. Apply today!

KEY POINTS:

• Deliver small group explicit phonics instruction
• Teacher Salary based on NPSB Salary Schedule
• Out-of-district applicants are eligible for a significant relocation stipend

WHAT IS NEEDED TO INTERVIEW?

• Teaching certification
• Preferred teachers have the science of reading training or comparative program training
• Bring proof of effective data

Applications Due by May 28, 2024!

FOR MORE INFORMATION & TO APPLY: Contact Aly Erikson at aerikson@npsb.la

Rotarian with the Program Joe Sers welcomed and introduced Natchitoches Grant writer Nicole Schunte Gray at the May 21 Rotary luncheon. Gray summarized the many grants and activities throughout Natchitoches Parish. Pictured from left are Sers and Gray (Photo by Dr. Ron McBride).