Learning comes to life

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  • Pictured are Tesnatee Gap Elementary School  Principal Dr. Octavius Mulligan, White County School System  Superintendent Dr. Laurie Burkett, TGES Assistant Principal Diedre Alexander, Director of Student Acountability Jennifer King, Assistant Superintendent Scott Justus, and Marketing Director at Breaux & Associates  Besty Mellott, holding the check TGES received for coming in 5th place. (Submitted photo)
    Pictured are Tesnatee Gap Elementary School Principal Dr. Octavius Mulligan, White County School System Superintendent Dr. Laurie Burkett, TGES Assistant Principal Diedre Alexander, Director of Student Acountability Jennifer King, Assistant Superintendent Scott Justus, and Marketing Director at Breaux & Associates Besty Mellott, holding the check TGES received for coming in 5th place. (Submitted photo)
  • Jerome Kukurugya is working on one of the STEM activities that was part of the #BuildWithBreaux STEM Challenge. (Submitted photos)
    Jerome Kukurugya is working on one of the STEM activities that was part of the #BuildWithBreaux STEM Challenge. (Submitted photos)
  • Makalli McMillian proudly shows off her 3-D toothpick shapes project.
    Makalli McMillian proudly shows off her 3-D toothpick shapes project.
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School work is really going to come to life next year at Tesnatee Gap Elementary School students.

That’s because students were able to earn a 3-D printer at the end of this school year thanks to their hard work. This all came about after TGES Principal Dr. Octavius Mulligan found out about the #BuildWithBreaux STEM Challenge on social media.

“(I) knew we had some talented students so I wanted to showcase their abilities,” Mulligan said. “It was also a way to bring some fun to our students during the pandemic.”

Mulligan said Breaux & Associations would periodically put out a STEM challenge for the students to create by using household items. There were eight challenges in total, and one of the challenges had the students build a triangular block structure by using scissors, paper and tape. Overall, TGES had several students participate and over 50 entries.

Besty Mellott, marketing director at Breaux & Associates, said TGES came in 5th place out of 50 schools that entered. Mulligan said they will be getting a 3-D printer, and the printer would be used for the Coding Club, if guidance permits.

“It will also be available for individual classrooms to use during the school day,” he said. “We would also like to create different items to help out in the community.”

Mulligan doesn’t know when they will get the printer, because they’re waiting to hear back from Breaux and Associates on the best type of printer for their use.

“I was very proud of our students for participating,” Mulligan said. “There were several elementary schools statewide that participated and we earned a 5th place spot in the competition.  We have some amazing students and parents and we are thankful for the opportunity to serve our school community.”