School-based health clinics are functioning out of three sites within the Poplar Bluff School District this academic year as the result of a grant initiative aimed at increasing access to health care in the region.

Southern Bank recently donated $2,880 to O’Neal to sponsor the elementary school’s expanded Student of the Month program for the entire academic year.

Poplar Bluff native Shelly Ridens has dedicated over two decades teaching in the middle school grade span, and now she will bring that knowledge set to the lower elementary level to help smooth the transition from the neighborhood school to a center.