The Board of Directors of the Bartlesville Education Promise announces the election of two new members to their Board of Directors. Elected are Mr. Dan Droege and Mr. George Halkiades. Both are strong supporters of education and have been longtime residents of Bartlesville.

George Halkiades is originally from Tennessee and a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with an Engineering Degree. He is listed as Who’s Who among students in American Universities and Colleges. He moved to Bartlesville to work for Phillips Petroleum Company in the Research and Development department. He joined Applied Automation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Phillips in 1968. He worked for successor companies until he retired from Siemens as plant manager in 2003. Halkiades is an active volunteer in numerous Bartlesville organizations, including American Legion Baseball, Bartlesville Citizens Police Academy, Leadership Bartlesville Class XIII, past President of the Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters, past member of the Charter Review Committee to rewrite the Bartlesville City Charter, on the review committee of Code of Ethics for the City, Current Vice Chairman of the Tri County Tech Board of Education, on the Library Literacy Services , current Secretary/Treasurer of the Bartlesville Rotary Club, Past President of the Bartlesville Public Library Board, on the board of the Washington County Chapter of Red Cross, current lead mentor of Robotics Team 2165, Chairman of the board of Lowe Family Young Scholars program, Current Treasurer of friend of the Library board, current Bartlesville Singles Connection coordinator, served as member of united way Community Investment Committee, as serves as Treasurer of the board of Bartlesville Regional United Way, current President of Friends in Deed which hold an annual Christmas Day dinner, Winner of Big Brothers Big Sisters Ray Steiner award, winner of Boy scouts Distinguished Eagle award, winner united way Spirit award, and is in the Bartlesville Community Foundation Legacy Hall of Fame. George’s wife Jeanne passed in 2004.

Dan Droege is a resident of Bartlesville since 1970 and worked as corporate communications manager and executive speechwriter for Phillips Petroleum Company and ConocoPhillips for 32 years. He serves as a volunteer communications consultant to the BPSC bond issues team, and a founding member of the Public Education Advocates for Kids (PEAK). He is the former president of the Bartlesville Rotary Club, former chairman of SunFest, has served on the boards of the Bartlesville Regional United Way, Bartlesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, Indian Summer, and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. He is the founding member of the Bartlesville Depot Train Display restoration team. With wife Melinda they have six children, all BHS graduates. Seven of 15 grandchildren now are attending Bartlesville public schools, another three BHS graduates.

Bartlesville Education Promise is a 501C3 organization. Its mission is to guide our community toward assuming greater ownership for improved educational outcomes for all students of our schools with special focus on improving education rates and readiness for higher education, technical schools or full-time employment. Working with schools involves special attention to identify and help students who are struggling and are at risk of dropping out of school before graduation. Private funds are raised to purchase elementary books and provide after-school tutoring at all nine Bartlesville schools. Special emphasis is provided to assist third-grade students to pass the State mandatory test. BEP also provides summer camps, transition between elementary schools and the middle schools and from the middle schools to high school, and STEM and Art Camps are provided during the summer.
The organization doesn’t’ have any paid staff. It relies entirely on the generosity of its donors and the volunteers efforts of its Board members and various volunteers.