Racine, Ohio-November 29, 2023: At tonight's Southern Local Board of Education’s November meeting, the board recognized the following students and staff as employee and students of the month.
STORM/Student of the Month:
Representing grades Prek-3, McKenna Hupp. She was nominated by Mrs. Misty Fields.
McKenna is an excellent storm student. She is always on time and ready to work and does her best work. She shows self control by keeping her hands and feet to herself and by always controlling her voice level. She takes responsibility by cleaning up her space and putting her supplies where they go. She shows respect by listening to whoever is speaking and raising her hand when she wants to say something. McKenna makes a positive difference every day by being kind, fun, and helpful to everyone in our classroom. Her classmates and teachers feel lucky to have her in their class.
Representing grades 4-6, Hayden Shamblin. He was nominated by Mrs. Katie Ash.
Hayden has such a big heart! He is so kind and patient with his classmates, showing them respect and boosting their self-esteem by giving them words of encouragement. He makes a positive difference in the classroom every day by putting others first and showing his classmates that it's okay to make mistakes. He takes responsibility for his learning, as well as his actions. He strives to do his best in everything he does. Hayden shows up for himself and the people around him every day.
Representing grades 7-9, Jaiden Burleson. She was nominated by Mr. Daniel Otto
Jaiden has shown great progress forward this school year. After some setbacks, she has performed well in class, greatly improved attendance, and being a good citizen. In particular, she was witnessed cleaning up trash during the lunchtime that did not belong to her. I am proud of the progress she has made this year and the positive way she has handled disappointment.
Representing grades 10-12, Daniel Marr. he was nominated by Mr. Alan Crisp
Daniel is a great student. He is always willing to go above and beyond to help with any extra jobs that are needed. He does work study in the cafeteria and gets high praise from his supervisor. Daniel is very mannerly and never is disrespectful to peers or authority. Academically Daniel works hard on his studies and will always ask questions when he needs help. Daniel plays football and works hard there also. Any teacher would be blessed to have him in class.
Employee and Staff Member of the Month:
Autumn Lisle, nominated by Mrs. Courtney Manuel and Mrs. Amy Roush.
I am nominating Autumn Lisle for teacher of the month because of her enthusiasm and dedication to our students here at Southern. Every year for as long as I have worked here, she has done an excellent job with the angel tree which makes a big difference for so many of our students and families around Christmas time. She also puts a lot of her own personal time into making literacy night a huge success. In the classroom, she works very hard to make writing fun and engaging for her students. Our students will always remember how she set up her entire classroom to look like a surgical room and dressed them up as surgeons to learn writing and grammar skills. That is just one example of some of the amazing lessons and activities she does in her classroom to engage her students and make writing fun. I admire the amount of time and effort she puts into building positive relationships and support for every student in her classroom. Autumn goes above and beyond for our students here at Southern on a daily basis. -Courtney Manuel
Autumn Lisle exhibits outstanding leadership and civic duty in the workplace and in the community. She willingly organizes the school angel tree every year for needy families in the district. I know that she spends countless hours working on making this project a success. The angel tree is such an important project that families in our district depend on for the holidays. By having Autumn being teacher of the month, it would be a great way to show appreciation to all of the community work she provides for our school district. -Amy Roush
Dawna Arnold, nominated by Mrs. Leslie Dunfee and Mr. Darren Jackson.
I nominate Dawna for staff member of the month. There are so many reasons for me to nominate her, first, she goes above and beyond in every aspect of her job performance. She gets crafts ready in the classroom, changes multiple diapers and takes kids to the bathroom several times a day. She has breakfast sitting out for the kids, there is no job that Dawna will not complete if asked. She also jumps in wherever she is needed. She has a heart of gold. She loves everyone one of the students in our classroom. She displays patience and enthusiasm! Dawna has stayed by my side since my mental health has been doing poorly. She talks me out of some very rough places and inspires me each and everyday to keep going! -Leslie Dunfee
Mrs. Arnold has been a consistent support and positive role model in the special needs classroom. I have seen her personal care and devotion dramatically affect student learning, behavior, and growth. When she was on medical leave last year, her presence was greatly noticed. It is easy to see she has genuine care for student well-being. Her job requires great mental and physical stamina and endurance. While it is true that progress does not occur overnight in most school/learning areas, it is particularly challenging because students Mrs. Arnold works with often do not exhibit improvement as we are typically used to seeing. It is only after several months are "results" visible. Personally, it seemed that one student's behavior did not change until about one year after working with Mrs. Arnold. I say this because it is difficult to continue with dedication when it seems as though nothing is working. The strength of Mrs. Arnold's tenacity and endurance, coupled with compassion cannot be overstated enough. - Darren Jackson
Thank you to Home National Bank for your continued support for this program and so many more at Southern Local Schools.