VP Rotary welcomes recent guests

March 24, Meeting
During the March 24, meeting of the Ville Platte Rotary Club, Rotarian Eric Gil welcomed Don Fontenot, Ed Benoit and Kyle Fontenot with Pine Prairie Energy Center, the gas storage facility located in Easton. Kyle Fontenot gave a general overview of the facility, and Benoit shared an audio/visual presentation on the facility, which began operations in 2006. He noted the location was home to five caverns, which can hold up to 46 billion cubic feet of gas - enough to supply gas to the entire state of Louisiana for one day. The facility is located over an approximately two-mile wide salt dome and has the capacity to hold two more caverns. Pine Prairie Energy currently has 84 miles of 24-inch pipeline that connects to Eunice as well as the pipelines of big gas companies including Tennessee Gas, Transco, Texas Eastern, Columbia Gas and Texas Gas. The facility has contributed over $15 million dollars in taxes since opening and currently has 19 employees.
March 31, Meeting
During the March 31, meeting of the The Ville Platte Rotary Club, Rotarian and Evangeline Parish School Board Superintendent Toni Hamlin invited two semi-finalists for state teacher and principal of the year. to be the guest speakers. Vidrine Elementary School Principal Sherral Tezeno introduced teacher of the year nominee Brandi Marcantel, who has been a fourth grade teacher at Vidrine Elementary for three years. Marcantel gave a brief background, noting she has been a teacher for nearly 10 years, having taught at Chataignier Elementary and Ville Platte Elementary before coming to Vidrine Elementary, where she herself went to school. She said she was very honored to represent Evangeline parish as a state semi-finalist and noted all of the teachers work very hard in the midst of so much change going on in education. Marcantel stated her mission is to have every student pass the fourth grade standardized test and said it is a collaboration with the students’ earlier teachers that also help in the success of passing this vital test.
James Stephens Montessori School Principal Cherie Fontenot, principal at James Stephens Montessori School is one of the nominees for State Principal of the Year. She has been in education for 20 years and has served as principal at JSM for the past four years. She gave a brief background on the history and success of the Montessori method, which was started by Maria Montessori in the late 1800s - early 1900s. She began by working with children in psychiatric hospitals and noted they did have the capacity to learn and pay attention to lessons. The children responded to the program, which made a big impact on their lives. This method soon became an educational movement and popular way to educate children. A large focal point of the program is that a child has to have control of his or her self in order to learn. Fontenot noted that the Montessori system is a different configuration than the average public school in that pre-k and kindergarten students are placed in the same classroom and work at their own pace. As a result, students could have the same teacher for two years. Once in third and fourth grades, the students are then separated in order to begin preparing them for the transition to a traditional public school setting. Fontenot added that in each classroom there is a certified quality care assistant with the teacher to help give each student individualized help. She noted that in order to prepare students for the move to a traditional school, teachers use a blend of the Montessori program and Common Core curriculum required by all public schools. She also said that students are very successful under the Montessori program, noting that 91 percent of the students are either at or above their grade level.