By Katie Knapp Schubert
Omaha, NE – 288 sixth-graders in the Omaha Public Schools are being honored for academic achievement.
The students received awards Thursday morning during the Winners Circle Educational Program ceremony. Winners Circle encourages students to set academic and citizenship goals. The students attend 12 OPS elementary schools.
Mayor Jim Suttle urged the students to set big goals for themselves. "And dreams come true when you set goals around those dreams, and I would encourage you to do that. Life is full of dreams and goals," Suttle says. "The first I had was to become a civil engineer and I achieved that, and on through my life as I did a lot of things in my community, and a lot of things in my school, and did a lot of things in my professional career, did a lot of things here in the political arena as well."
More than 84 percent of Winners Circle students are minorities and qualify for free or reduced lunch programs, according to information on the Winners Circle website. Winners Circle officials say students in the program meet their goals 87 percent of the time.