Theta Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma International met at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, at the Kingfisher Public Library. Delta Kappa Gamma is a society for key women educators and was founded May 11, 1929, by 12 women educators in Austin, Texas.

Ramona Paine, Enid, president, presided over the business meeting.

Joy Rhodes, Fairview, brought the Society Focus on Support for Early Career Educators (SEE) as this is an international project that began in 2012. Delta Kappa Gamma members are urged to mentor beginning early career educators.

Karla Eischen gave the devotional by reading “The Dash.”

The meeting was spent reading essays from seventh and eighth graders from Okarche, Watonga, Waukomis and Reydon. There were 19 essays from the seventh graders and 18 from the eighth graders.

The theme was “If you were a new superhero, how would you use our strengths to better the world?”

The seventh grade winners were: Rylie Bomhoff, first, Anna Shirey, second, and Caden Schieber, third, all from Okarche.

Eighth grade winners were:HayleePritchett,Watonga, first; Sage Griswold, Okarche, second; and Jaycee Taylor, Okarche, third.

Charlene Heromena, Reydon, essay chairman, will send in the first-place winners to be entered in the state competition by March 1.

The state winners will read their essays at the State Convention on June 8, at the Embassy Suites in Oklahoma City.

Theta Chapter was honored to have Haley Pritchett, then a seventh grader, win the state essay award and she was present to read her essay at the Leadership Conference held in Norman in June 2018.

Theta Chapter will host a reception for the winners on April 13 with family, teachers and guests at 10 a.m. The winners will read their essays and each will receive a monetary donation.

Theta Chapter worked a booth at Winterfest. Those funds raised were for its Grant-in-Aid scholarship.

The chapter voted to donate $75 to the state Non-Dues Revenue Project (silent auction) to fund Tebow-Herrington Leadership, Scholarship, Essay, Us Forum and Creative Women of Oklahoma.

The next meeting will be 10 a.m. Saturday, April 13, at InterBank in Kingfisher where the winners will be honored.