January Pack the Backpack Winner: Mary Fitzgerald

What a great event we have with Pack the Backpack, presented by Central Office Supply, a division of Minuteman and Kix 101.1! Each month during the school year, we will be awarding $101 to a Kix Country classroom to help out with supplies. We will award the prize on the last Wednesday of the month. You can listen to each new winner at 8:30a on the Morning Kix Start.

Our January winner is K-1 Talented and Gifted Teacher at Meskwaki Settlement School, Mrs. Mary Fitzgerald. Mary was nominated by Cheryl Fleener-Seymour . Here is the letter nominating Mrs. Fitzgerald:

Good Afternoon,

My name is Cheryl Fleener-Seymour, I am a parent of several children currently attending the Meskwaki Settlement School and also a parent of a few who have graduated. Let me first say I had a difficult time trying to nominate just one teacher, and the fact that my husband is in the second grade at MSS made it even harder not to be a little bias because he is just awesome (and he’s worked all fall with a broke femur)!

For those of us who send our children to MSS we are fortunate to have so many great educators those currently teaching, and those educators who once worked at MSS, including some educators of whom you have recognized as backpack recipients at other schools.

I have worked in education for almost thirty years so education is very important to me personally. I believe supporting education is one of the most important things we can do for children! I also feel we should encourage children to want to learn, make them eager to learn and to make learning ‘fun’ which is how I narrowed down my decision, and chose to nominate;

K-12 Talented & Gifted Meskwaki Settlement Teacher, Mrs. Mary Fitzgerald.

Ms. Fitz, as we all call her, joined MSS when our oldest daughter was in Jr. High. Ms. Fitz came to MSS after leaving the Marshalltown School District and brought years of experience with her. Ms. Fitz is not only an outstanding classroom teaching, but her involvement goes beyond and so much deeper than her classroom! She built our successful Drama Club program; she’s very supportive and helps our students in Large Group and Individual Speech; she assisted with our Academic Decathlon program; and most recently she with her colleague, Leah Slick-Driscoll, developed the Meskwaki Geography Club – “Wondering Warriors”. Last summer she accompanied 17 students for a seventeen day on an EF Tours European Carrousel of seven countries, and in 2021 she plans to take the next group of students to New Zealand, Australia, and Hawaii. Geography Club meets once a month on a Sunday, so again after regular hours meaning giving up personal time on a weekend. She with the help from Ms. Slick provide dinner or refreshments the students and spend 2-4 hours with students studying about the areas/regions they will be traveling. She not only provides extra supplies in her classroom, she also contributes snacks for the students during play practice, takes snacks along to the speech contests, she supports every fundraising activity, and she like so many educators are funding “all of the extras” out of her personal budget.

Ms. Fitz makes learning fun, interesting and engages with the students in and outside of her classroom. Even the artwork on her classroom windows promotes creativity, and learning can be fun for students. She is truly vested in the education and success of our Warriors. She connects with our students, families, and community, she knows Warriors on a personal level. She sees gifted & talents qualities in every child/student, and she makes them all feel special! Above and beyond is Ms. Fitzgerald, she does it all with a warm smile, a happy heart, a little giggle, and always offers encouraging words to everyone. Last year for the class of 2019 she was their keynote speaker, she took the time to talk about the good qualities of each graduate, she was spot on, and then she thanked the graduates for what they taught her. She had everyone in happy proud tears because she truly knew fine qualities of each individual student.

Ms. Fitz has proven over and over her commitment and dedication to our student body and school. She is an outstanding educator, an amazing mentor, a perfect role model, and she is respected by students, colleagues and parents. We are so blessed, lucky and fortunate to have her as an educator in our school. Ms. Fitz may have been a Bobcat once, but she definitely has proven she is a Meskwaki WARRIOR now! We want her to know how much she is appreciated for everything she has done and continues to do for our children and the school. Not only do the past, present and future students love her but “we” the parents do as well.

Please consider Mrs. Mary Fitzgerald at the Meskwaki Settlement School as your next Backpack recipient, she definitely deserves it!

Thank you for your time and your consideration.

Respectfully,

Cheryl Fleener-Seymour

Below you can listen to my interview with Mrs. Fitzgerald!

Nominate your Kix Country class by submitting a letter to us at backpack@kixweb.com.