Grateful for people going above and beyond

Contacted recently by one of our teachers about some high-performing students she was proud of and wanted to brag about, I took advantage of the opportunity to visit with Vicki Guiffre as she described the details.

Guiffre began, “We are very excited to be starting a chapter of Junior Honor Society here at Yucca Middle School.”

Guiffre has been an educator with us for many years. I vividly remember her over the 12, or so, years she’s been an educator for the Clovis Schools. From third-grade teacher at Ranchvale, integrating technology with her students early on, to Parkview elementary, where she was one of the first teachers I knew to incorporate QR codes in her classroom, much to the delight of her students, bringing a whole new level of motivation to the classroom.

After teaching at different elementary sites, Guiffre moved to secondary grade levels and is now the GT (Gifted and Talented) teacher at Yucca Middle School. She is also the sponsor for the newly resurrected Junior Honor Society.

After recounting many of the difficulties of coming back academically for many students, Guiffre shared how proud she was of the students who had met the requirements for being inducted into the Junior Honor Society. Students must have a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher, sustained cumulatively over the last several nine weeks periods for eligibility. Not all of our secondary sites have an active Honor Society, and this is the first time in recent years Yucca has had theirs.

Organizing the evening ceremony took some collaborative efforts. In addition to the help of Yucca staff, Kelly Martin, Gattis Middle School’s sponsor, as well as librarian, helped out with decorations, as did Dawn Hanks, sponsor at Clovis High School. Particularly moving was the participation of the CHS National Honor Society’s president and vice president; respectively, Ayia Alsaleh and Mackenzie Keith who not only helped with the ceremony, but also spoke to the younger students about the tenets of the Honor Society, including the four pillars of leadership, character, scholarship, service, and the critical importance of these.

Yucca students were so excited by the event that took place in Yucca’s gym on their recent Parent Night. Guiffre spoke of upcoming volunteer and community servicer opportunities they were also planning and described how grateful she was for the overwhelmingly positive feedback from parents.

I am exceedingly grateful for a great many things, but especially examples of staff, students, and parents persevering and going above and beyond to support and encourage one another, ever striving for standards of excellence.

Cindy Kleyn-Kennedy is the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Clovis Municipal Schools and can be reached at:

[email protected]