Education is essential for any city’s strength, and this week in Vicksburg it was evident that local educators are offering students opportunities to grow their knowledge.

On Friday, the students at Vicksburg Catholic Schools had the chance to explore a mobile planetarium called the Digital Starlab.

The Digital Starlab was from the University of Mississippi Center for Mathematics and Science Education and was set up in the St. Aloysius gymnasium.

Students from pre-K to seventh grade listened to a presentation, which started on Earth with a view of the sunrise and sunset with the constellations in between. A trip to the moon was next, followed by a look at the entire solar system and then the galaxy. The school’s STEM lab teacher Gloria Pettitt said the center sent her a box full of educational material, and she used the information and equipment in her class the week leading up to the planetarium visit.

“The kids actually learned a lot of this stuff that they brought to life today,” Pettitt said.

James Powell, a fifth grade student, said his class was able to see pictures of different galaxies and so much more.

“We saw the stars and the constellations. They made it look like we were on the moon,” he said. “It looks so small on the outside, but its looks really big on the inside.”

Also on Friday, on the Vicksburg campus of Hinds Community College the students of River City Early College High School and students from the Jacob’s Ladder Learning Center came together for a Pow Wow party to celebrate Thanksgiving and to forge a relationship among the students.

“We want River City to be a service school,” guidance counselor Marian Richardson said. “We wanted to reach out to the community and make a special day.”

Richardson said she felt that by hosting the students of Jacob’s Ladder, a school for students with intellectual disabilities, it would help create an ideal partnership with RCECHS students and help them develop skills that would serve them in life.

“It’s really important that my students don’t think of people who don’t look like them in a disrespectful way… We don’t pity them. We respect them,” Richardson said. “That’s what is key, is increasing their life experiences.”

More positives in education:

– Recently, Bovina Elementary School was recognized for having the highest accountability score in the district on state standardized tests, and the school celebrated with a party, which included throwing confetti, spraying silly string and releasing balloons.

“We had the highest percentages in the district over all the schools, which we’re extremely proud of,” Bovina Parent Teacher Organization president Julie Ford said.

The accountability scores were calculated based on test results of the Mississippi Assessment Program tests in English language arts and mathematics given to third through eighth grade students. The tests are designed to measure student success reaching the Mississippi College-and Career-Readiness Standards.