The winners of the November Character Education Students of the Month award at Collinsville High School were recently announced. The character trait for the month was, “Be cooperative, work together with others.”

The winners were Kayla Cole, Matthew Crooker, Mya Davis, Amanda Hoyt, Mat Votoupal, Heather Wingate and Elizabeth Wyatt

Kyla Cole

Kyla is always helping her peers with their work. She will pass out papers to the correct students in her group and read questions or words that they have difficulty understanding. Kyla encourages them to work and helps them enjoy their work while she is nearby. – Mrs. Parris and Mrs. Stapleton

Matthew Crooker

Matt has many of the qualities found in the ideal student and he is an absolute pleasure to have in class. He is always incredibly helpful, whether it is assisting other students in classroom activities or working in groups with any of his peers.

Matt’s willingness to answer questions during class discussions and to share his own thoughts and knowledge demonstrates his confidence and competence as a student and a critical thinker. Matt is also not afraid to say something if he has questions, which often helps other students with their own confusion. His cheerfulness and energy always brighten up the classroom, from the time he walks in saying, “Merry Christmas” every day, to his enthusiasm about the activities going on in class. – Mrs. Talisha Chambliss and Ms. Emily Jenkins

Mya Davis

Mya is a student in my first hour Foods One class. One measure of student success in that class is the ability to work in teams of students to accomplish group goals. Sometimes these goals involve project work and other times students work together to create a recipe in the lab.

Students in my classes are often challenged when team members are shuffled. This is what happened with Mya in class today. She had gotten along very well with her previous team and really did not want to change. She expressed this to me. Before I could talk to her about the situation, Mya went to sit at her table with her new team. She led her team with a positive, pro-active attitude and much was accomplished in class today.  Thank you, Mya, for making the best of a difficult situation. – Mrs. Thomas

Amanda Hoyt

Amanda originally worked with me as a math tutor leader for her volunteer hours. She completed those hours quite a while ago, but continues to assist other students as a tutor many days of each week.

We have a lot of students with a lot of different math topics, and it is great to have Amanda’s assistance. Her personality is a valuable asset with the students she works with. – Mrs. Linda Jeeninga

Mat Votoupal

Mat is a very responsible student, checking on assignments even when traveling for a band trip or college day. Where the character and cooperation really becomes noticeable is when other students in class are missing something, Mat helps them out.

One student forgot his book at home multiple days in a row and Mat gave the student his book to use because he was either finished or would share with a student sitting next to him to allow the student without a book to work. Another student did not have headphones on a day when students were importing sounds for an assignment. Mat gave this student his headphones to use and was willing to share and pass back and forth to help the student.

Both students that Mat helped were not students I would necessarily call friends of his, but he helped them without thinking twice. His attitude helps with the overall flow of the classroom and the class, and I appreciate it a lot. – Mrs. Emily Reed

Heather Wingate

Heather is very cooperative in my English I class. She sits next to a student who often struggles and she works with him to keep him on track and answer questions. She also works well in paired and group activities. I have come to rely on her a great deal as my helper. – Mrs. Tiffany Droege

Elizabeth Wyatt

I was very impressed with the way Elizabeth handled herself during the sophomore heroin assembly. She displayed an incredible amount of restraint and patience while sitting next to her friend.

Elizabeth’s friend has Asperger Syndrome and it is very difficult for him to act according to social norms, such as being quite during assemblies. When he would laugh or try to talk, Lizzy would correct the behavior immediately.

The best part happened the next morning. I stopped her and said, “Good job during the assembly yesterday.” She responded by saying, “He is my boy!”

I love that she did not take it as a chore to “handle” the behaviors, but instead was just a good friend. – Mr. Chris Glynn