Student of the Week - Teleri Thompson

Congratulations to Teleri Thompson, who was given the Student of the Week award at Wednesday's all-school meeting. Teleri (Te) is an eighth grade Freeski athlete who comes to KMS from Kyushu, Japan. In addition to taking a full-load of classes at KMS, Teleri also keeps up with her rigorous Japanese curriculum and testing with the help of a tutor and also via independent work.

She was nominated for this award by humanities instructor Ian Groezinger who shared, "I would like to nominate Teleri Thompson for Student of the Week. She has demonstrated both creative and insightful thoughts in all of her courses, and has been nothing short of awesome in the classroom, dormitory, and in training."

Ian continued, "Throughout the course of the year Teleri has had to balance taking courses in our full-term middle school program, with taking multiple major exams from her Japanese school. In her time here, Teleri's literacy skills have improved by leaps and bounds. She has really began to grab hold of the American culture, attitude, lingo, and (most importantly) sarcasm. In addition, Te has shown the ability to contribute constructive thoughts from a more global perspective in our current event discussions. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, as an ELL student Teleri has been able to pronounce, comprehend, and apply a large variety of vocabulary words."

Science instructor Richard Morse agreed, "Te loves science class. She is excited every day, and brings a lot of useful insight to class. She has fully embraced all aspects of maple sugaring. Te knows all the vocabulary associated with the task, and invents new things to try it on. The next thing we are tackling is maple sushi!"

Art teacher Eric Kuntz felt Te was deserving as well, "She is super in the art room. She comes in with a smile, that lights the place up! She has come along way with her creative thinking skills. She has shown large growth in her artistic abilities

and has shared some amazing stories about her culture and life back in Japan."

Math teacher Kim Benjamin agreed with the nomination, "Although math is not one of Tei's favorites, she is brave when approaching problems. She is studying both Geometry and Algebra (per her curriculum in Japan), and has a very disciplined and methodical approach to problem solving. She always shows up to class, and even when exhausted from training, still lets her bright spirit shine through, helping her power through the math lessons. She surmounts any challenges presented to her, chin always held high!"

Congratulations, Teleri! You have done a tremendous job of integrating into a new culture and with navigating the academic requirements of two schools. We will miss you tremendously!