October 16, 2022
Focus on the Fabulous
What a great Homecoming Week we had in Center! Students and staff got to participate in fun activities throughout the week, from dress-up days, hall decorations, class competitions, and fun sports events, to parades, a bonfire, a tailgate, a great football game, and a dance. Thanks to everyone who pitched in throughout the week to make this one of the best Homecomings ever.
The stands were full and Mr. Swanson led everybody in the School Fight Song after every touchdown! The band played and sounded amazing!
It was a beautiful day for a football game and our boys came out with the win!
A huge shout out to Hanna Hayes, who coordinated, organized, mastered ceremonies, and attended all the events to make sure things went smoothly!
Viking pride was on full display throughout the week!
The white lies day was fun and people came up with some great ideas!
The halls were decorated and the parade was the best one yet!
All in all, it was a great Homecoming Celebration!
Focus on our Fabulous Staff
Triina Ketola is joining our Viking team as an MS/HS Tutoring Coordinator. She has three years of indoor teaching experience and over 10 years of outdoor teaching. She was a STEM and middle school science teacher for the last 3 years. Before that, she was a naturalist, a bike tourist, a ski bum, a ski shop manager, an outdoor educator, a program coordinator, and a logistics coordinator for various schools, companies, and lodges in 9 different states. She also guided international schools and gap year programs in six different countries. Triina considers her strongest assets as an educator are that she is hard-working, collaborative, and compassionate. The favorite part of her job is solving problems and helping students feel supported and loved.
Triina is originally from Michigan but her family is from Finland and her first language is Finnish. Her two sisters and parents live in the US, but the rest of her family is in Canada or Finland. Her family is very involved in the Finnish, Nordic, and international communities in the Detroit area. She grew up dancing in a Nordic dance group and playing with a Swedish fiddling group. They traveled across the US and Canada performing at various international festivals. A highlight was performing at the soccer World Cup Opening Ceremonies. In her free time, she enjoys trail running, hiking with her dogs, river trips, cross-country skiing, split boarding, bike touring, climbing, playing and writing music on the mandolin, cooking, and potlucks. Even with all of that, she has just joined the Rio Grande Search and Rescue.
Andrew Parnes is our new Kindergarten teacher. He has been in education for a total of seven years, but this is his first year teaching in our district. In college, he worked as an after-school staff and as a residential specialist with developmentally disabled adult men. He’s also been an out-of-school activities program facilitator, a camp counselor, and an AmeriCorps grants specialist. Andrew considers his three strongest assets to be his empathy, patience, and communication skills. A favorite part of his job is being able to shape future generations. He comes from a family of educators as both his mom and sister are in education. His dad is a businessman. In Andrew’s free time, he is a freelance photographer and an avid outdoorsman. He loves nature and just being out in the mountains, hiking, and camping with his camera. We are happy to have Andrew on our team working with our youngest Vikings!
Marianna King has been an educator most of her life. Her first experience teaching in primary school was teaching a bilingual, 4th/5th grade class for Los Angeles Unified School District. She was awarded an emergency teaching credential because many Hispanic families moved to Southern California to escape the wars in Central America in the 1990s. She also has experience as a substitute teacher in California, Vermont, and New Mexico. She was interested in becoming an Elementary Tutor for the Center Consolidated School District because she believes, as do all dedicated teachers, that early education is of primary importance in becoming a good and successful person. She is impressed with the skill and commitment she sees in the Center Schools staff and is happy to be a member of the team.
Her book, “The Crisis of School Violence: A New Perspective,” was published by Michigan State University Press in 2020. The book is acclaimed as the definitive book about school violence because it is the only book that adequately takes into account the role of violent entertainment media, especially violent video games. Marianna’s hobbies include swimming, writing poetry and taking care of 27 feral cats in Monte Vista.
We are excited to welcome all of our new staff to our amazing team!
Rewind
On Friday, October 7th, we started the day with professional development from the LifeSpot team. Our Safety Director, Steve Martinez, coordinated the training that will support the district’s comprehensive security plan. This app will help us to speed up valuable response time in the case of an emergency. After the training, the afternoon was scheduled to be some downtime for staff, so that they could relax and rejuvenate.
The Recruitment and Retention team has been busy planning fun events for our staff and community as they work on improvement strategy #4 of our District Action Plan. Staff had the chance to chill out at Hooper Pool, bowl in Monte Vista, or just have some extra time in the classroom. The R & R team also organized the tailgate for our Homecoming Football game. We had a great turnout and it was a fun way to connect with the community.
The cooking crew kept everybody fed!
Fast Forward
Our district nurses, Wendy Murillo and Randi Asbell, have been getting things in place for our students and staff to receive some additional health services. Public Health will be in the library on Wednesday, Oct. 19th, after 1:00 pm to give COVID boosters to staff.
Students will have the chance to receive vision exams on Wednesday and Thursday. A big thank you to Advantage Vision and Von’s Vision for making no-cost eye exams and glasses available to our students!
Upcoming dates to get on calendars
Monday, October 17th - Start of the 2nd Quarter
Wednesday, October 19th – Early Release- Parent Teacher Conferences 4:30- 7:30 pm
Thursday, October 20th – Parent Teacher Conferences- 4:40- 7:30 pm
Friday, October 21st- HS Cross Country @ Rocky Ford, Football @ Monte Vista
Saturday, October 22nd- HS Volleyball @ Creede vs. Mancos
October 24- 31st - Red Ribbon Week