The Wildcat Appreciation Committee (WAC) holds monthly events for the staff at the school and the recent trivia night attracted a knowledge-filled group.
Staci Herring, a second-grade teacher, said her usual need to win at all things took a back seat for this event.
“I am super competitive and like to win, always,” Herring said. “However, in this case, fellowship and building relationships with the people I spend most of my days with was the best part. I learned so much about the fellow staff members that I would have never known under our typical circumstances. I feel like for the first time I truly saw and met the people I have known over the past two years.”
Herring said she was able to relate to others as people, not just fellow staff members.
“You just get a sense of fellowship and fun that I think we have all missed,” she said. “I have been able to joke and laugh with members of the administration team that I never thought I would even have an opportunity to know on a personal level. I made some deeper connections with my fellow team members and forged some fun insight into who my colleagues are.”
Dawn Lupton, the K-7 art teacher, said that’s all according to plan. Teachers and staff need to have those connections away from the student body.
“Our committee is trying hard to keep the positivity going through doing events like these,” Lupton said. “We plan various social gatherings, monthly coffee time, secret pals, etc. Mostly it’s a time to build community amongst our staff.”
For Trivia Night, Dr. Jeffrey Sutton, the sixth grade language arts teacher, provided the game which incorporated categories from various subject matters. Questions were written on a whiteboard and the players did their best to answer them to earn points.
“This experience made me see what people really enjoyed and how much life experience some of us have even across varying age groups and subject areas,” Herring said. “I know next time we will be including different types of games as we will definitely make this a new tradition for all staff here at WCA.”
Winterville Charter Academy is part of National Heritage Academies, a charter school management company in Grand Rapids, Mich. with over 95 tuition-free, public charter schools across nine states, serving more than 60,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.