Grove Community Outreach Inc

09/03/2026

Fall Break = Time to Keep Learning!

This October, PicScience: Fractions for Beginners returns to Hawk-Houston Youth Enrichment Center for a week of hands-on math enrichment! ➗🧠

📅 October 5–9 | 3:00 PM
🎓 Grades 4–6
📍 Hawk-Houston Youth Enrichment Center

We’re building confidence, strengthening math skills, and showing students that they CAN do math! 💚

Learn. Practice. Succeed.

09/01/2026

Congratulations to Keirsten Saulsberry on being selected to the DCS Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council!

A bright young leader, strong communicator, and positive role model, Keirsten continues to lead with purpose and make an impact. 🌟
Keep shining, Keirsten!

👏 Welcome to the Inaugural Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council!

Monday, we officially welcomed our inaugural cohort of student leaders to the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council, in partnership with Fearless Leadership Academy.

Congratulations to the following students selected to participate on the 2026-2027 SSAC:
• Ja’Haydon Franklin, Dothan Preparatory Academy, Grade 8
• Emily Kate Hutto, Dothan Preparatory Academy, Grade 8
• Crimson McClendon, Carver 9th Grade Academy, Grade 9 (not pictured)
• Ruchit Patel, Carver 9th Grade Academy, Grade 9
• Kaleb Lawson, Carver 9th Grade Academy, Grade 9
• Alani Cole, Carver 9th Grade Academy, Grade 9
• A’Sahtu Sanders, Carver 9th Grade Academy, Grade 9 (not pictured)
• Eden Powers, Dothan City Virtual School, Grade 9
• MaKenzie Goolsby, Dothan City Virtual School, Grade 9
• Keirsten Saulsberry, Carver 9th Grade Academy, Grade 9
• Alli Cole, Dothan High School, Grade 11
• Kameron Jackson, Dothan High School, Grade 10 (not pictured)
• Kamila Watford, Dothan High School, Grade 10
• Chad Snell, Dothan High School, Grade 10
• Brody Apida, Dothan High School, Grade 11
• Zaniya Davis, Dothan High School, Grade 11
• Sydney McDonald, Dothan High School, Grade 11
• Haleigh Copeland, Dothan High School, Grade 11
• Keely Weber, Dothan High School, Grade 11
• Jorgia Armstrong, Dothan High School, Grade 12
• Fernanda Vazquez, Dothan High School, Grade 12
• Jamauri Hart, Dothan High School, Grade 12
• Olivia Steward, Dothan High School, Grade 12

Throughout the coming year, these students will engage in monthly leadership experiences designed to strengthen their confidence, develop their leadership skills, elevate student voice, and connect them with leaders from across the Wiregrass.

We are excited to invest in this exceptional group of young leaders and look forward to celebrating their growth throughout the school year!🐺💙

08/29/2026

📣 Our Impact Is Reaching Further

The 2026 Dothan Community Math Camp story didn't stop when summer ended.

Our recent social media campaigns generated 3,985 views, helping bring greater visibility to student achievement and the work happening in our community.

Inside our 2026 Community Impact Report, you'll see the full story — from personalized instruction and flexible ability grouping to measurable academic growth and plans for what comes next.

3,985 views — and we're continuing to build from here.

📄 Explore both pages of the report and tell us what stands out to you.

08/28/2026

📈 The Results Are In

The numbers offer a clear picture of student progress during the 2026 Dothan Community Math Camp.

59% → 73% average proficiency
+14 percentage points
24% improvement from baseline
Two students gained 50 percentage points

Students receiving targeted intervention demonstrated some of the greatest academic growth — showing what can happen when instruction responds to individual learning needs.

📄 See Page 2 of our 2026 Community Impact Report for the results and what comes next.

08/27/2026

💛 Honoring a Legacy. Strengthening the Future.

For more than 60 years, Hawk-Houston Youth Enrichment Center has been a place of opportunity, encouragement, and connection for generations of Dothan children and families.

Its legacy extends beyond programs and activities. Hawk-Houston has provided young people with a safe and supportive environment, trusted adults, and positive relationships, often reaching children at important moments and helping them recognize new possibilities for their futures.

That spirit is reflected in the foreword of Cookies and Lemonade Available at Hawk-Houston, which speaks to the belief that God brings people together at meaningful times and for meaningful reasons, a truth evident in the lives of those we encounter and in the impact we leave on one another.

That sentiment captures much of what makes Hawk-Houston's legacy so enduring: people showing up for people, generation after generation.

Grove Community Outreach Inc. and PicScience: Fractions for Beginners are proud to partner with an organization whose longstanding commitment to youth development and academic enrichment continues to strengthen our community.

We thank Executive Director Altha Newman and the Hawk-Houston Board of Directors for welcoming our students, families, and team and allowing us to contribute to this continuing story.

👏 Has Hawk-Houston been part of your story? Share a memory, photo, or word of appreciation in the comments as we recognize more than six decades of service, connection, and community legacy.

08/27/2026

📊 A Closer Look at How We Teach

The 2026 Dothan Community Math Camp was built around a simple idea: students should receive the support they need, when they need it.

Pre-assessments identified individual needs, while flexible ability grouping allowed instructors to provide targeted intervention. As students demonstrated growth and mastery, they transitioned back into the core group.

It’s a flexible approach designed to keep students learning, progressing and moving forward.

📄 Take a look at Page 1 of our 2026 Community Impact Report.

08/22/2026

Strong summer learning takes a community.
Students bring their curiosity. Teachers bring their knowledge and encouragement. Families reinforce the importance of learning. Community partners help provide the resources that make those opportunities possible.

For the second consecutive year, the Alabama Power Foundation has been part of that community through its support of the Dothan Community Math Camp & Tournament.

Together, we are creating opportunities for students to strengthen math skills, practice problem-solving, communicate their ideas, work collaboratively and build confidence.

We appreciate the Alabama Power Foundation's continued investment in Dothan's young people.

Because when students have opportunities to grow, the benefits extend beyond the classroom and into the community we share.

Thank you, Alabama Power Foundation, for investing in their future.

08/21/2026

From solving the problem to explaining the solution.

One of the most meaningful signs of student growth is the moment a young person becomes confident enough to share what they know.

At the Dothan Community Math Camp & Tournament, students aren't limited to completing worksheets. They have opportunities to work at the whiteboard, ask questions, compare strategies, communicate their thinking, and learn alongside their peers.

That active participation helps turn math practice into confidence.
For the second consecutive year, the Alabama Power Foundation has helped make these learning experiences possible through its support of the program.

We are grateful for a community partner that continues to invest in opportunities for Dothan's students to learn, grow, and prepare for their future.

Confidence. Learning. Opportunity.

08/20/2026

Two years of investing in Dothan's students. 💙

For the second consecutive year, the Alabama Power Foundation has supported the Dothan Community Math Camp & Tournament, helping provide local students with meaningful opportunities to continue learning during the summer.

Inside our classrooms, that investment comes to life.
Students are solving problems, raising their hands, explaining their thinking, working alongside their peers and building the confidence to tackle challenges they once may have avoided.

These moments are important because strong summer learning programs do more than provide additional instruction. They create environments where students can strengthen academic skills while developing confidence, communication and collaboration.

Thank you, Alabama Power Foundation, for continuing to invest in Dothan's young people and the opportunities that help them succeed.

Two years of partnership. A future of possibilities.

08/20/2026

Teaching Then & Now:

Can you imagine what it was like to teach in New Brockton, AL, in the 1960s? If you can imagine what it was like to teach during segregation, you can sort of understand how Ms. Betty Refegee felt as a young woman working at the time.

History tends to repeat itself. So much like today, there were limited job opportunities for people looking to make a living, but Refegee was determined to find a long-term career. Starting in New Brockton as a librarian during segregation, then later as a teacher of 7th–12th graders, she learned important skills that she would later adapt and refine depending on her audience.

In 1966, she transferred to an integrated Zion Chapel Elementary school in Jack, AL, where she taught for 22 years. In her new position as a 4th-grade teacher, she faced the challenge of learning different teaching styles to best accommodate her younger students. Her flexibility was rewarded by the relationships she had with her students. She said, “I had no major problems. I loved my students. I respected my students and they, in turn, respected me.”

Ms. Betty Reffegee has decided to write and publish a biography titled "Challenging Changes." It is a biography based on her life and family growing up in rural Alabama. She thought it was important to put this on record for the younger generations to never forget their history and where they came from.

In this series, we highlight teachers because they have a duty to develop the minds of the future generation. Ms. Reffegee is an example of a teacher who has been instrumental in this daunting task. We celebrate her and those like her any chance we can. '

Betty Reffegee