DCHS Class of 2019 will Take a “Senior Walk” May 16 (VIEW VIDEOS HERE)

April 25, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Members of the DCHS Class of 2019 all decked out in caps and gowns will walk through their old stomping grounds – Smithville Elementary School and DeKalb West School – during the Annual Senior Walk on Thursday, May 16.

(VIEW 2018 DCHS SENIOR WALK AT SMITHVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BELOW)

“The Senior Walk is an opportunity for students to return to their elementary campuses and parade through the hallways in their caps and gowns while the Graduation Pomp and Circumstance (song) is played over the P.A. While we hope this will inspire our future graduates, we are excited about our seniors being able to see their elementary school teachers one last time before they graduate,” said DCHS Principal Randy Jennings.

(VIEW 2018 DCHS SENIOR WALK AT DEKALB WEST SCHOOL BELOW)

April 25, 2019
By: Leigh Fuson

Nineteen DeKalb County 4-H members recently traveled to the Tennessee Livestock Center in Murfreesboro to compete in the Central Region 4-H Livestock Judging contest where their knowledge of cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were put to the test.  This contest is one of the largest judging events in the region with around 25 counties and 325 youth participating.

We had two teams in the Junior division (4^th & 5^th grades).  Julian Alverez, Izayah Dowell, Tyler Dunn, and Grady Hancock placed 4^th overall.  Cali Agee, Chaylea Lunsford, Laura Magness, and McKenna Miller placed 5^th.  Cali Agee was 4^th high individual, Izayah Dowell placed 6^th, and Tyler Dunn was 8^th.  There were a total of 22 teams and 87 contestants.

In the largest age division of 6^th-8^th graders, our teams did well but were unable to grab a top ten finish.  Ansley Cantrell, Abby Cross, Riley Fuson, Emma Hancock, Evan Reid, Kolton Slager, Caley Taylor, and Mason Taylor were our contestants.  Abby Cross was our top scorer, finishing 27^th overall out of 141.

Finally, our Senior High team of Jenna Cantrell, Clayton Crook, and Cody Robinson placed 7^th overall out of 22.  That is a great accomplishment for a 3-man team! Clayton was 12^th high individual and Jenna was 16^th.  High School members must also be able to explain verbally why they placed the class the way they did as an added challenge.  This requires good public speaking and memorization skills.

Livestock judging allows young people to develop decision-making and critical thinking skills while evaluating and selecting meat animals. They also learn more about the livestock industry as a whole.  So, how do you “judge” livestock animals exactly?  4-H members learn how to assess the conformation, or body structure, and muscle of different breeds of beef cattle, sheep, goats, and swine in order to know which animals would be best in a breeding program or would make the most profit in a market situation.  They also learn how to read and use performance data and genetic information to assist in the selection of breeding livestock.   Eight total classes of animals were judged at the contest.

These youth represented DeKalb County well at this very competitive event. Our members worked hard and practiced several times.  We also made some farm visits and had a lot of fun.  If you are interested in learning more about livestock judging, or any other 4-H event, please call 615-597-4945.

4-H is the Youth Development program for University of Tennessee and Tennessee State University Extension. 4-H teaches leadership, citizenship, and life skills to more than 302,000 youth in grades 4-12. UT/TSU Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment through the cooperation of county, state, and federal governments.

April 24, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Sam Ordung has a busy life.

Not only is he the pastor at the Dowelltown, Fullers Chapel, and Mount Pisgah United Methodist Churches, he is also a strength and conditioning coach at Hillsboro High School and serves as Chaplain for his unit in the US Army Reserves.

Ordung, the focus of the latest WJLE “Preacher Feature” came to DeKalb County almost two years ago to pastor the local churches. It’s his first pastorate assignment.

A native of South Florida, Ordung and his family relocated to Franklin, Tennessee when he was a child . “We moved there around 1996. That is where my mom’s family is from and we have been in Franklin pretty much ever since. I was home schooled and got interested in gymnastics. After my high school education I went to the University of Nebraska and earned my BA degree. I was also a gymnast for the Corn Huskers in 2008 and 2009. I then came home and went to the Vanderbilt Divinity School where I earned my Masters degree in Divinity and then went through the ordination process in the Methodist Church. I became the strength coach and coached football at Franklin High School before moving on to be the head strength coach at Hillsboro High School in 2014.  I am overall our sports strength and conditioning coach for football, boys track, boys basketball and girls volleyball,  girls basketball, and girls softball. In the midst of all that I have been in the military now for 11 years and function currently as a Chaplain in the US Army Reserves. I guess you could say I juggle quite a few hats,” said Ordung.

Ordung met his wife Karissa while they were students at Nebraska . They have been married for a little over a year now and have no children. She is employed as a data scientist for the Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation in Nashville.

Although he enjoys being a coach and his military service, Ordung said the ministry is his first love and it came at an early age.

“I was born and raised in church and from a young age my grandma told me that (ministry) is what I was meant to do. I am named Sam because my mom struggled trying to have kids and prayed to have a child. She latched on to Hannah in 1^st Samuel  of the Bible and prayed to God saying you give me a son I will name him Samuel and give him back to your service. It’s (becoming a minister) is kind of been part of how I was raised and I have tried to follow that call,” he said.

Ordung, who lives in the church parsonage at Dowelltown, said he and his wife like it here and plan to stay around a while.

“After seeing Franklin and Nashville grow and having to struggle to get anywhere because of the traffic, it’s nice to be out here in the country with the hills and greenery. I’m trying to get more of my friends to come out here this summer whether it’s on the river or lake or just being outdoors because so many things here remind me of what Franklin used to be before it became Nashville South,” said Ordung.

If you are in search of a church home, Ordung invites you to visit the Dowelltown, Fullers Chapel, and Mount Pisgah United Methodist Churches.

“At Dowelltown we have about 40 people including young families. The narrative about rural churches is that they are older and dying but you don’t see that at our churches. We have young families with kids in middle and high school. It’s an awesome thing to see and we plan to do a lot of things this summer including activities with our youth,” said Ordung.

“Fullers Chapel is an older crowd. You have heard of comfort food. I like to call it our comfort church made up of a great group of folks”.

“Mount Pisgah is a mini version of Dowelltown with young families. We have about six kids just learning to walk. Some couples are just married or about to get married. Again it’s a church with a lot of great people,” he said.

“On Sunday morning we have a service at 9:00 a.m. at Dowelltown and then I drive to the worship service at Fullers Chapel which is about 10:15 a.m. and then go to Mount Pisgah for another service at around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday we have our traditional Bible study night at Dowelltown at 6:30 p.m. preceded by our youth choir at 6:00 p.m. We have a women’s Bible Study on the 1^st & 3^rd Sunday nights and there are a lot of youth activities on Sunday nights. We’re also starting an open boot camp and yoga for the community on the 2nd and 4^th Sundays.  One Sunday a month we rotate a prayer service among the three churches for a time to reflect, contemplate, and testify,” added Ordung.

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