(Oct. 11-13) -- Several Orenda Education staff and school officials attended the annual Texas Charter School Association in Grapevine, Texas.  They included (from left) Shelley Williams, New Horizons School Principal; Carla Silber, Orenda Chief Operating Officer; Laurie Mattson, Head of Secondary at Gateway College Prep; Jolene Bruce, Principal of Gateway Tech High School; Mercathea Hughes, Orenda Special Education Director; and Margina Escobar, Orenda Director of Financial Services. 

(Oct. 4) -- For the third consecutive year, two Gateway College Prep School seniors in the Georgetown, Texas charter high school are recipients of the Tom & Lisa Landry Scholarship Awards through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  The students are recognized for their involvement in both athletic and community endeavors.  They must apply for the annual scholarship which was awarded recently at the Escondido Golf Club in Horseshoe Bay. 

(Sept. 18) --The Belton Chamber of Commerce "Ambassadors" held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Nolan Creek School, Orenda's new K-5 charter school in Belton, Texas.  Ken Wiseman, the school principal, welcomed the visitors and guided them on a tour of the school which supports the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the arts and Math) curriculum.

(Sept. 11) -- Gateway College Prep School, a K-12 school in Georgetown, recently adopted Cobb 6th Grade Center in Galena Park near Houston to raise new school supplies for students whose supplies were depleted and destroyed as a result of Hurricane Harvey's recent destruction.  The supplies were transported by Gateway personnel to the school on Sept. 18.