Glenn Young is an American government and geography teacher at St. Mary’s High School who has been teaching for 38 years. He has held a variety of positions over the years at the Independence Catholic high school including teacher, coach and administrator.
O’Connor will become the principal of both St. Mary’s and Archbishop O’Hara high schools this fall, splitting his time evenly between the two facilities.
Diane Kyser is the founder and co-executive director of the Community Mediation Center in Independence. Now in its 12th year, the center provides “impartial, third-party facilitation for the resolution of disputes” among individuals and entities across Jackson County.
Kyser, who plans to retire at the end of 2012, has received several awards this year for her work, including the 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. award from the Independence Human Relations Commission, as well as the Jackson County Inter-Agency Council’s Human Service Award.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared April as Mediation Month.
The National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is this weekend, and Independence is again participating. This is the fourth take-back day since the Drug Enforcement Administration launched this initiative. Nationwide, participating agencies have removed 995,185 pounds of medication in the past 13 months through these events, according to the DEA. Terry Storey, a detective with the Independence Police Department, is the organizer of the Independence event.
Jim McCullough is a former Blue Springs resident and Blue Springs South High School graduate. He’s a filmmaker whose latest work, “In Captivity,” directed by another Blue Springs South graduate, Jon Abrahams, will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 21.
Centerpoint Medical Center registered nurse April Waibel and Research Psychiatric Center registered nurse Amy Haun were recently named the HCA Midwest Health System’s Nurses of the Year. Both nurses were chosen from nominees in the HCA Midwest System’s employment base of 2,287 registered nurses.
The honor recognizes staff nurses who are committed to providing the highest level of direct patient care and safety in an environment where people, compassion, community and integrity are valued, in addition to inspiring their peers to provide the highest standard of patient care and safety.
Waibel, who lives in Odessa, is celebrating a nearly three-decade career in nursing in roles between the old Medical Center of Independence and Centerpoint. From 1984 to 2000, Waibel served as an ICU nurse. She is currently working as a nurse in pre- and post-operations. Waibel is married with three daughters, including 19-year-old Taylor, who is studying nursing at William Jewell College.
Jeanine Rann is the Community Development Coordinator for the Missouri Main Street Connection group, which is currently working with the city of Blue Springs.
Grain Valley resident Doug Porter, 23, studied business and economics at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Mo., and is interning for Rep. Sheila Solon, R-Blue Springs, in Jefferson City.
Denny Okerstrom, a 40-year resident of Independence, is an English professor at Park University in Parkville, Mo. For his fourth book, he chose to write about the young men who flew the B-24J Liberator, Bottoms Up, on its final mission during World War II. The result is “The Final Mission of Bottoms Up: A World War II Pilot’s Story,” which was published last fall.
“I believe that readers will learn much about combat flying in World War II, not so much from a tactics or strategy perspective, but from the perspective of young men who simply wanted to get on with their dreams, goals and lives, but first had to fight a war,” Okerstrom said. “They did it with quiet courage and came home to become everyone’s neighbor, postman, teacher, plumber and car salesman. I think that readers will also learn that for those who must fight, the war is never truly over, that combat veterans pay a high price for their valor the rest of their lives.”
The book can be purchased from many online sources, including Barnes and Noble and Amazon as well as from the publisher, the University of Missouri Press in Columbia. Many area libraries also carry it, including Mid-Continent Public Library.
Cortney Cooper has been named the development director of FORCE, Fort Osage Resources Champion Education. A Blue Springs High School graduate, Cooper owns Stretch-n-Grow, a company that teaches physical fitness classes to pre-schoolers. She is also an active volunteer in organizations such as Harvesters as well as in her own church, Lakeland Community Church.
