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Major Lynn Lowder was awarded Silver Star for Valor in Vietnam. He knows a little about what it is like to return home after serving in a foreign conflict, now he is committed to helping others.

•October 16, 2019•
By Barry Sadler
For the News Progress

If you have never heard of V-Harmony, you should.
According to founder, Sullivan High School 1964 graduate and retired Marine Corp Maj. Lynn Lowder, V-Harmony matches veterans with business opportunities.
“When WWII veterans returned, 49 percent helped rebuild America by owning or operating a business,” Lowder, a special operations US Marine veteran, said.
“Less than seven percent of all returning Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans are in business for themselves; although 25 percent would like to be.”
Lowder explained that the provisions of the GI bill that helped create the great American middle class are no longer available to returning veterans.
Credit scores and collateral drive business loans which are a detriment to today’s veterans who return to civilian life with no FICO and little collateral.
That’s where V-Harmony comes in. Lowder and partner Dale Eisenburg have established a 501c3 which entitles the Veterans Business Project to help bridge the ownership gap.
Special operations and National Guard have had to return repeatedly since 9/11, stretching the few to their physical and mental limits. Lowder explained the suicide rate among returning veterans continues to escalate.
“Our country trains us to be warriors,” Lowder said, explaining that when a warrior returns from the battlefield, the transition is not easy, and for some, almost impossible due to post traumatic stress from repeated exposure to conflicts overseas. Read More

Photo furnished
Ag in the Classroom
With Ag in the Classroom back for a new season, September’s lesson was on apples. Stephanie Naylor visited Sullivan and Okaw Valley Elementary schools. The Kindergarten and First graders tasted three popular types of apples and filled out a worksheet picking their favorite and completing a craft. The second, third and fourth graders learned several apple facts and completed an experiment creating an apple volcano. Naylor will meet with students one time a month to discuss a variety of Agriculture related topics.

•October 16, 2019•
By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress

Stephanie Naylor has, for several years, been the Moultrie County instructor for the Ag in the Classroom program.
In that capacity she visits every K-3 class in Moultrie County once a month for 20 minutes and, in a year, teaches over 6,000 students about the wonders of agriculture through a variety of interactive programs. But such agricultural experiences were not always available.
Throughout much of our history, agriculture and education have been closely related. Old school books are full of agricultural reference because farming was part of nearly every child’s life prior to 1920.
From 1920-1950 farm populations shrank, agricultural emphasis decreased in books and agricultural education became more of an occupational specialty or a trade school course. Ag classes had virtually disappeared from most curriculums.
In 1981 the U. S. Department of Agriculture invited educators and representatives of agricultural organizations to discuss agricultural literacy and to form a task force to help bring agriculture back into the classroom. That same year the national program – Ag in the Classroom – was established and, as result, each state now addresses agricultural education in ways best suited to its own needs. Read More

•October 2, 2019•
By Cheri Burcham
for the News Progress

Have you noticed more butterflies lately? Especially monarch butterflies? That is because it is the monarch migration season and these black and orange beauties are heading down to Mexico!
The Monarch – which is our state butterfly – is the only butterfly that I am aware of that makes this miraculous journey each year.
It ends and begins in Mexico. Monarch butterflies overwinter in areas of the central Mexican mountains where they semi-hibernate until it is warm enough to travel back north. In the spring, they start making their way north through the U.S., reaching as far as Canada.
However the butterfly that makes it all the way north is not the exact same one that left Mexico – it will be the great grandchild of that one!
As the butterfly heads north, it will stop along the way and lay eggs and then die. Those eggs are deposited only on milkweed plants and the caterpillars (larvae) that emerge will eat the milkweed until they grow large enough to pupate or develop into a chrysalis (cocoon).
They will take about 10 days inside that chrysalis to develop into a butterfly and then emerge – and continue the journey north. This continues for four generations and then what I call the “supers” emerge and that last generation will be the ones that make a 2500 mile journey back to Mexico. Those are the ones you are seeing now. Isn’t it amazing that they know exactly where to go but have never been there before? Read More

•October 2, 2019•
OVES is launching the innovative Choose To Be Nice program this year to create a lasting culture of kindness that will influence the entire community.
With age-appropriate curriculum, practical lessons and fun activities for the entire school, the program shows students how to fundamentally improve their interactions with others.
The comprehensive program starts with a simple promise to be nice. Students and faculty, are invited to make the promise and sign a colorful banner and received a promise band to make it official. The banner is hung prominently in the school as a reminder to everyone. Read More