The concept of creating lifelong learners should be at the foundation of our children’s education.

Thankfully, Vicksburg is home to many events designed to keep children thirsty for more knowledge.

Recently, schools have held sciences fairs and spelling bees, which culminate with district fairs and bees, and all middle schools, public, private and parochial, participated in the fourth annual math competition sponsored by the U.S. Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District and the Vicksburg chapter of the Society of American Military Engineers as a precursor to the MATHCOUNTS competition.

Corps of Engineers Chief Engineer and SAME President Henry Dulaney said the organization is very committed to growing the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) field, especially at the junior high level.

“We’re proud that we’re able to support the math competition because it’s critical that we grow the STEM field,” he said. “We want to expose them at the junior high level when they’re making the choices about what classes they’re going to take in high school. This is important.”

We agree. It is important.

Warren Central Intermediate sixth-grader Jordan Townes said she was given a list of about 475 words to study, which she made sure to do.

“My mom told me to study for an hour or so, then take a break, then go study some more,” she said. “I used the Dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster apps on my phone to help pronounce the words.”

Competitions such as these promote learning and get our students excited at the same time.

We appreciate the effort of all of the teachers and volunteers who come together to make these competitions a reality.