8th Grade Rotary Students

When I asked the 8th graders to give me some adjectives to describe their classmates, Miko’s classmates described him as intelligent, humble, open-minded, helpful, thoughtful, mature, exuberant, frank, hilarious, caring, hard-working, compassionate, kind, and responsible. His classmates also mentioned he is good at basketball, is a gamer, and does the best tik tok dances. One of his classmates said, “Miko is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. He is always giggling and making people laugh. He has good reasoning skills and a quick mind to solve problems. It’s very interesting to listen to him talk about different stories or places.” Another classmate shared, “Miko is extremely helpful and always puts others before himself. He is a quiet, intelligent student. He doesn’t disrupt class, and he always gets his work done. He is respectful of both the teachers and his classmates.”

Miko’s classmates hit the nail on the head with all they said. Being Miko’s teacher has been an absolute pleasure and joy. He is a quiet student who stays under the radar, but he is consistently working hard and is always willing to help out anyone in any way he can. He reserves his quiet demeanor for the classroom where he can always be found taking thoughtful notes, actively participating in class, putting 100% into an essay or test, or working collaboratively with his classmates. Although quiet, Miko is always enthusiastic when it comes to learning. At times, he can even become a little competitive and steer away from his quiet, calm demeanor. I recall a history close reading challenge we had early in the year during our Revolutionary War unit. Miko became so excited he was jumping up and down, running across the classroom, and even let out a yelp that sounded as if it were from an excited toddler. These are the moments that make our entire class giggle! Miko is extremely intelligent and has provided some of the most thought provoking essays and thoroughly answered short essay questions that I’ve read in my career as an educator. Yet, Miko remains extremely humble of his successes. Outside the classroom, Miko becomes a social director. It isn’t rare to see Miko making groups of his friends and classmates laugh with his quick wit and fun-loving personality. He was able to share his love of fun and games with our school last year as commissioner of activities. Miko puts smiles on the faces of classmates, schoolmates, and teachers daily.

​Miko has been a student council member for three years, played CYO basketball, has been part of our school’s drama club, is an altar server, has been a member of our school’s Science Olympiad team, and is an honor roll student. It has been a blessing to have a student like Miko who knows how to balance hard work and fun! Miko is an outstanding young man who offers the best version of himself every day. Congratulations Mikolas Macion on your well-deserved 8th Grade Rotary Student Award!

I asked the 8th graders to give me some adjectives to describe their classmates. Maddy’s classmates described her as dependable, helpful, polite, gentle, supportive, smart, kind, trustworthy, caring, determined, compassionate, positive, funny, understanding, responsible, hard-working, athletic, and friendly. A few of her classmates also mentioned that she loves to dance! One of her classmates said, “Madisen always works hard, asks for help when she needs it, and is very sincere and kind. She shares her faith with others. She’s always willing to try something new, and her dream to teach deaf children has inspired and amazed me more than she knows.” Another one of her classmates said, “Maddy is always giving someone a helping hand and has a fun personality as well. She is very smart and athletic. I like listening to her entertaining stories about things that happened during volleyball activities, which shows me how much she loves volleyball.” Maddy’s classmates echoed the sentiment that “she is a good person who is always trying to do the right thing.”

During the two years I have had the privilege of being Maddy’s teacher, I have seen her demonstrate a commitment to her education, her faith, her school, her parish, and her family. Although Maddy can be quite the chatterbox and reaches her question quota almost daily, she puts 100% into being the best version of herself every day, striving to make each day better than the one before it. While maintaining a focus on her academic growth, Maddy has also been actively involved in extracurricular activities and actively serves her in our parish helping with events like vocation bible school and community Sunday. More than once this year Maddy took some heavy hits, but she didn’t allow those to defeat her or use them to make excuses. Maddy gracefully took on the new role of librarian for our student council rather than allow defeat to deter her from the opportunity to be involved in her school. She never wavered in her faith when she learned of her mom’s cancer diagnosis. Instead, she worked harder than ever. She stepped up in her school work, helped out at home, went above and beyond in her service to our school and parish, and continued to attend Mass, believing in the power of prayer.

​Maddy has been a student council member for three years, has been a part of our school’s drama club, played CYO volleyball, plays club volleyball, sings in our school choir, and is an honor roll student. I am extremely proud of the growth I have seen in Maddy the past two years and look forward to seeing her continued growth and success as she moves on to high school. Maddy is an outstanding young lady deserving of recognition. Congratulations Madisen Thomas on your well-deserved 8th Grade Rotary Student Award!