Student of the Week - Teleri Thompson

Congratulations to Teleri Thompson who was named Student of the Week at Wednesday's all-school meeting. Teleri is a 9th grade Freeski athlete who comes to KMS from Miyazaki, Japan. Teleri was nominated for this award by humanities instructor Ian Groezinger.

Ian, shared "I would love to nominate Teleri. I have seen exponential growth from Te in the last two years, both socially and academically. Given that she struggles with the language barrier, she often falls behind in her work and struggles to comprehend readings. However, she makes a consistent effort to get caught up (working hard with Nate, EK through NHS, and myself) and hands in quality work. Throughout the course of the year I have seen a big improvement in Teleri's ability to write, particularly in the aspects of painting a full picture of events/time periods while still effectively explaining the proverbial "so what?" (e.g. why does this stuff matter). Yesterday when I was on a field trip, her class was to complete an in-class essay that was to count as a test grade. With Courtney covering for me, Te sat quietly and worked hard on her response. In fact, it was one of the most well-written, detailed responses I have seen from her, particularly without outside support. Teleri has come a long way from the shy girl who first arrived last year."

Art teacher Eric Kuntz agreed, "I second Teleri. She has been outstanding this past week. She has her sketchbook assignments done on time, sometimes even days ahead of the scheduled due date. She comes to class with a big smile on her face ready to take on the creative challenges of the day. She is open to creative direction, and asks very good questions. She is always helpful in cleaning up after herself and even helping others clean up. She loves to be creative, and takes her time in expressing her artistic talents. Te also helps other students with giving them suggestions and advice on their works, when asked. She is a positive student all the time, and works very hard."

National Honor Society student-athlete EK Robinson-Leith agreed, "I definitely agree with your decision! Te is a very bright student, incredibly kind, and has grown so much since we first started working together. I am so happy to have worked with her this year, and I am definitely going to miss our study sessions together."

Social Studies Department Chair Courtney O'Keefe agreed with the nomination, "I would also like to add my nomination for Te. I do not teach Te, but I have had the pleasure of watching her in a classroom setting (via English and History) throughout this year. From these moments, I have found that she is an extremely hard working student. Underneath the quiet mannerisms and shy smiles, is a student who is motivated to always do her best and take ownership of her work. I recently watched her work on an assignment for Ian's Western Humanities class this past Thursday. She patiently listened to my instructions, pulled up Google Classroom and the materials associated with the assignment, and immediately set to work to complete her reflection on whether or not the Industrial Revolution was a success or failure. She worked quietly through the whole class, determined to do her best, and managed to create an interesting response to this reflective question. Nice work, Te!"

English teacher Nate Clifford added his thoughts as well, "It has been a distinct pleasure getting to know and work with Te this year. For a foreign student to become acclimated and comfortable is an exceptional challenge, and Te brings both a deep sense of caring and also the desire to meet expectations with which native-speaking students struggle. Imagine trying to both learn the academic vocabulary while wrestling with the larger concepts that vocabulary is outlining. It's double duty, and for the many late hours and collaborations through essays and paragraphs, I applaud Te's endurance and continued attachment to her progress."

World Languages Department co-chair Claudia Revenko-Bowen shared, "Learning a second foreign language with grace, commitment, and determination, always with a smile and a positive attitude--that is Te. Let’s imagine for a second what it means to transition from Japanese to English, and then to Spanish with the intermingling of idiomatic expressions, accents, sentence structures, and characters, all at once. Culturally, Te has showered us with so much knowledge about the differences between Japan and the United States. Recently, Te also completed a research project on Colombia, through which she shared unique aspects of the country and its people. The final presentation was so beautiful, comprehensive and engaging. We are so lucky to have Te as a member of our class!"

Academic Director April Hayden agreed, "Te has had more challenges than most - in academics as well as student life. Her academic load last year was huge, and I also believe that she has made significant strides in all areas while at KMS."

Congratulations, Teleri on all of your hard work. We will all really miss you next year!