That is no longer merely a belief. The past several months of working within the school district have turned that belief into a well grounded truth. As evidence of that truth, the following is a sampling of the wonderful work I have seen occurring in the school district during my first semester.
Our high school industrial arts students participate annually in a “toys for tots” program in which they produce a plethora of toys for young students in the elementary school (pictures attached).
This is a great learning opportunity for high school students about manufacturing as well as the technical skills required in industrial arts classes. More importantly, however, it is a wonderful opportunity for our older students to provide a service and be a blessing to our younger students during the Christmas season.
The Barone Middle School Student Council organized and ran a Veteran’s Day celebration that was a different, but equally important, service project to benefit the veterans in our community.
Anyone who attended a showing of “The Little Mermaid Jr.” could not help but be thrilled with the level of talent and commitment of our students. Students in third through eighth grade participated in the musical. With the help of community members and Meeker School District staff, these young performers delivered three phenomenal performances.
My family and I attended the Warrior Classic wrestling tournament in Grand Junction on Dec. 18. Meeker students, parents and community members filled an entire section of bleachers at the Grand Junction Central High School gym. There was a bit of overflow into other sections as well.
The community support for our student athletes was overwhelming and far outweighed the following of any of the other 38 teams competing at the tournament.
I regularly attempt to spend time in classrooms. I have continually been impressed by the dedication and focus of our classroom teachers and their willingness to continually grow professionally.
Our teachers are regularly at school early and stay late after the final bell. We also have a number of teachers who provide extended learning opportunities for students on Fridays, when neither the teachers or students are required to be in the building. Nonetheless, these professional educators are willing to give up personal time to help students learn.
As mentioned previously in this column, these are but a small sample of the positive actions I have observed with our students, staff and community this semester.
In preparation for writing this column, a list of several items that could have been included in the column was created. That list contained well in excess of 20 items and was, by no means, an exhaustive list.
As I have said before, and will continue to say, the list of positives that have been identified cause me to continue proclaiming: “I am proud to be a Meeker Cowboy!”
By Chris Selle
Meeker Superintendent of Schools
This sounds wonderful.