With the second quarter of school within the Carbon School District well underway, Helper Middle School Principal Nikki Vasquez stopped by the KOAL Newsroom to talk about the Rams and what’s coming up for the school.
We opened our conversation by looking back, with Vasquez discussing how the first quarter went for the middle school,” First quarter was full of excitement and fun. We started the year with our annual color dance where we have the kids throw chalk at each other, and that’s a lot of fun.” Vazquez continued,” Then we took them on a field trip up to Kingsbury Hall and they watched Duck Pond by Circa. We had a Halloween dance and we finished off the first quarter with an honor activity where they went bowling and had a carnival-style, fun intervention at school.”
Next, we asked Vazquez what adjustments both teachers and administration were looking to make heading into the second quarter. “We got some data and found out that our students were kind of lacking some math facts. And so we have a schoolwide initiative to ensure that all of our students are proficient in their basic math facts, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.” Vazquez added,” In addition to that, we have found that some students are lacking in some reading strategies and vocabulary … And so we have revamped our interventions to ensure that those students who need that intervention are getting that.”
One aspect of middle school that students come to love is the different athletic opportunities that are opened to them. Principal Vazquez discussed what sports are coming up for the winter season,” we have boys and girls wrestling coming up. And we’ve already started that. We had the girls compete in a competition this last weekend. We had at least one girl report that she took first place. So that was good. And then the boys traveled to San Rafael. And then they’ve also traveled over to the Uinta Basin. So we’re excited about that.” Vazquez added,” And then boys and girls basketball is getting underway. Boys, they’ve already set the date for their tryouts, which is next Tuesday. And we had a pretty good showing, last night we had 24 boys show up. So we’re excited.”
Vazquez then spoke more in-depth on the girls wrestling program and its growth in recent years,” That’s a huge thanks to our head wrestling coach and some people who just have had wrestling kind of in their veins for years. Frankie and Jamill Tapia have helped us and it’s just been awesome. The head wrestling coach at Carbon High, Jimmy Jewkes, has just been amazing and just loves those girls. It’s inspiring to see the girls taking that on.”
Our penultimate topic of conversation was some upcoming events for HMS,” Before the holidays, we’re going to have Thanksgiving bingo … And so as long as students are passing their classes and have good citizenship, we’ll take them to the gym and we spend the afternoon with them. And they love bingo.” Principal Vazquez moved on to December,” And then we will go into December, finish out most of the second quarter strong there, and then end with a Christmas dodgeball tournament, which has also become a tradition. Students sign up as teams and compete against each other for bragging rights.”
In closing, Principal Vazquez shared,” If you’re wondering if we are the right fit for your kid, come check us out because we’re pretty fun.”
To stay up to date with the HMS Rams, you can visit the school’s website or Facebook page.