TEACHER RECOGNITION
When Shawnee, Kansas, Mayor Michelle Distler put out a call for residents to nominate teachers who stood out during this pandemic year, parents gave a big thumbs up to Vicki Widman, a member of the local Jewish community.
Widman is a first-grade teacher at Rhein Benninghoven elementary in the Shawnee Mission School District. She signed up to be a remote teacher, working late virtually every night to make sure everything was uploaded and ready to go for the next day.
Her hard work earned her outstanding teacher recognition from Distler and the city of Shawnee. Widman’s husband, Andrew, said his wife was the only teacher honoree to receive two nominations. Widman started her teaching career in 1999.
“If you were to participate in Mrs. Widman’s virtual classroom, you would think she has always taught this way her entire career,” read one nomination. “Her dedication, effort and time that she spends. I will never be able to show her enough gratitude and appreciation.”
The other nomination credited Widman with spurring a love for school in a student who had not liked it in preschool or kindergarten. The student really blossomed as a reader.
“Mrs. Widman has just been so amazing,” the nomination said. “We love her and how sweet she is.”
WELCOME ABOARD
Chabad of Leawood made this announcement via Facebook on June 21:
“We are so excited to welcome the newest members of our Chabad team, Rabbi Avremi and Mushky Baron! Avremi and Mushky will be launching and directing CTeen in the Kansas City area. With full-time teen-geared holiday programming, discussion groups, and Shabbatons, CTeen’s goal is to create an environment for Jewish teens that fuses fun, friendship, humanitarian outreach, and engaging Torah study. CTeen, the Chabad Teen Network, is the fastest growing network of Jewish teens, with over 600 chapters in 37 countries and 6 continents.”
TORAH ON THE GO
Blumah Wineberg of Chabad House Center alerted The Chronicle to a story that appeared recently on chabad.org. The story announced that Chabad’s daily study app has been “rebuilt from the ground up to add a new dimension of daily Torah study to your life.” The app was first released in 2014. The story said the study track is refreshed daily on the app, which is available via Google and Apple.
MISSOURI MAN THREATENS
CONGRESSMEN
A Missouri man recently pleaded guilty to threatening to assault two members of Congress. Kenneth R. Hubert, of Marionville in southwest Missouri, pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of threatening to assault a U.S. official.
The charges stem from two threatening calls Hubert made to the offices of U.S. representatives Steve Cohen of Tennessee, who is Jewish, and Kansas City’s own Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. In each call, Hubert threatened the congressmen with nooses.
Hubert’s plea agreement states that he faces a maximum of six years in prison.
FLORA GETS SUPPORT IN
MAYORAL RUN
In her bid for mayor of Mission, Jewish candidate Sollie Flora has received support from several local politicians.
Ethan Corson, the Jewish Kansas state senator from Fairway, has backed Flora. In a post on her Facebook page, Corson was quoted as saying “I’m proud to endorse Sollie Flora for mayor of Mission. She is absolutely the right person to move Mission forward. Sollie has the intelligence, work ethic, and commitment necessary to address Mission’s needs...”
Flora has also received an endorsement from local Kansas state representatives Rui Xu (District 24) and Jarrod Ousley (District 25).
