Around Town

Emerald Award winners recognized

Look inside this week’s Enterprise for a special section honoring the three Emerald Award winners in a program sponsored by the Holyoke School District, The Holyoke Enterprise and local businesses.

This year’s Heart Award winner is Lynn Schneider, an elementary reading interventionist. Christy Shafer, an elementary English as a second language paraprofessional, is the Leader Among Us recipient. High school social studies teacher and football coach Nicolas Balog is the 2020 Innovator of the Year.

A ceremony was originally planned for April 23, but it had to be canceled due to coronavirus mandates. The awards will be personally handed to the three individuals at a later date, and then a video will be available to watch online.

April is National Safe Digging Month

The weather is warming up, and many people are embarking on home improvement projects. So April is the perfect time to point out that people are required to call 811 every time before they dig. Some utility lines are buried just inches below the ground, and hitting a line can result in fines, damage or serious injury. Plan to call 811 a few days before planting flowers, installing a mailbox, putting in fenceposts and any other construction projects. Utility companies will be able to mark where lines are located before the project is started. For more info, visit call811.com.

FFA to host online service sale auction

The Holyoke FFA chapter is going online to auction off members for eight hours of work. Bidding begins Thursday, April 23, at 8 a.m. and ends Sunday, April 26, at 8 p.m. on the chapter’s Facebook page in the comments under members’ photos. Or email bids to streckersh@hcosd.org by Sunday at 10 a.m.