We asked people of all faiths to send devotionals for the start of the school year. State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters has directed the Bible be taught in all school districts in Oklahoma.

Here are the prayers readers put forth for Oklahoma students and educators for the 2024-25 school year:

A welcoming prayer

May our students’ voices be heard, their questions welcomed,

And space held for silence when no answers are adequate.

May our students see light in those who lead.

May they be met with open doors and inviting rooms.

May they find laughter and learning in equal measure,

Delight and discovery in each new day. 

May their smiles be mirrored.

May their wounds be tended.

May we who lift the lamp of learning offer plenty of heart and plenty of hope,

And continue to walk on the way of wisdom with one another.

Karla Winslow, of Edmond, is in her 38th year as an educator. She is a member of the Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene.

‘You must teach them all’

I pray that Ryan Walters will be replaced so that schools may focus on teaching children all of the information they need to know that will prepare them for the next year.

The Supreme Court will end up telling him, “If you teach one religion, you must teach them all.”

Gene Stewart, 94, is a Baptist in Oklahoma City.

A Methodist’s prayer

God, please talk to me directly, in a way I can fully understand your words, without an interpretation from others.

Richard Prawdzienski, of Edmond, is a Methodist.

Family members feared for the lives of the two Oklahoma college students allegedly drugged at a swim-up bar in Mexico as they waited in different countries while one of the girl’s boyfriends was repeatedly denied access to their hospital rooms.

Kaylie Pitzer and Zara Hull were vacationing in Cancun with their friends when they ordered some water at the resort’s pool bar on Aug. 2nd and suddenly slumped over.

A terrifying photo captured the students with their heads lying on the bar while they held hands before they were wheelchaired up to their rooms.

Hull, 20, was later rushed to a private hospital when she began convulsing from the drugs, which US doctors believed to be synthetic fentanyl, according to KWTV.

Her boyfriend, Jake Snider went with her to the ICU where she was “so sedated that she couldn’t open her eyes or speak,” Snider’s mother said of the horrifying ordeal.

“My son was not allowed to stay with her. We had to pay $200 for him to have a room upstairs for the night. It was the 2nd floor of the hospital and the floor was completely VACANT. The room was merely a hospital room,” Stephanie Snider wrote on Facebook.

Snider revealed that her son was too scared to sleep because he feared something would happen to him.

“He couldn’t get in downstairs again to see Zara until the next morning. We sat in 2 different countries- praying all night for safety and health,” she said.

When Jake Snider got down to Hull at 8 a.m. on Aug. 3, Snider said her son found Hull on a ventilator, with a catheter, and under heavy sedation.

Hospital staff allegedly said they were taking Hull to another location for an MRI, which the family speculated was a cover for trafficking.

“He told them to STOP EVERYTHING he’s taking her out. We told him, ‘do NOT let them take her, do NOT let them do anything else to her-we were working on getting them out!’”

“We believe they were planning to take her away to be trafficked or perhaps even to take her organs (which is what we were later told is a common thing that is done),” Snider’s post added. “They most likely would have done something to my son as well, possibly even death.”

The hospital allegedly had already demanded a $10,000 deposit prior to any treatment and then demanded another $25,000 “by Sunday morning to continue treatment or $5,000 to release, Snider previously said on Facebook.

Hull and Snider’s families attempted to find Dallas area hospitals to bring Hull, but were continuously rejected as the private hospital wouldn’t cooperate in sending over her medical records

Thirty hours later, a family friend secured a $28,000 private plane to medevac Hull and Snider to Texas where she hospital as Jake had obtained a partial list of medications Hull was given.

Pitzer and her boyfriend secured a flight to Dallas where they made a “beeline” to the Dallas hospital and the two best friends embraced, she told News 9.

Snider shared that she and the parents of the girls still can’t “close their eyes” over the “haunting”, while Jake “is never going to forget the hell he went through to get Zara and himself out of there alive.”

“For Zara and Kaylie, they have horrible feelings of only what we told them happened to them and yet no memory at all during the ordeal – but are tortured by the fact it happened to them,” Snider concluded.

Hull’s convulsions were her body reacting to the drugs.

She was released from the hospital on Friday but is expecting more medical bills with a GoFundMe set up for them.

Oklahoma State has one of the most experienced teams in college football, but finding time for its young players is imperative.

OSU goes into the 2024 season looking to compete for a Big 12 title and a trip to the College Football Playoff. Although the team is filled with talent in the starting lineup, its younger players further down the depth chart will be the key to the future.

Getting reps for those young players is critical for OSU because of the team’s returning production. While the Cowboys look almost identical to the team they put on the field in 2023, many veteran players will be gone in 2025, and that team could look unrecognizable. Although OSU coach Mike Gundy is no stranger to roster turnover, next season could be one of the most drastic he has seen in his two decades at the helm.

“They’re getting a lot of reps in practice,” Gundy said. “It’s not the same but, you guys know, you’ve watched me forever, as soon as we get in a position, we’re going to put other guys in and let them play. We don’t leave guys in for statistics or to run the score up. We’ve never done that. We want other guys in so they can play.”

READ MORE: Oklahoma State WRs Laud Offense Heading into 2024: ‘Picking Your Poison’

OSU might not get many opportunities to let the starters rest next season, with a nonconference schedule that features South Dakota State and Arkansas. However, finding moments for the younger backups will be necessary. While some areas of the roster, like defensive backs, feature young stars such as Cam Smith and Cameron Epps, others are in a much more dire spot beyond this season.

For example, five of the Cowboys’ six returning starters along the offensive line are entering their sixth college football season. This means getting game action for potential future contributors such as Austin Kawecki, Noah McKinney and Davis Dotson could be impactful for the program’s future.

“That’s what they want to do is play in games,” Gundy said. “Their moms and dads deserve to see them play, and the experience they get being out there in a game is very important. That’s not something we can replace.”

READ MORE: Oklahoma State HC Mike Gundy’s Son Opens Up On Transfer To Division II Program

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