February 2023 NIB Awards

February 2023 NIB Awards

NURTURING GROWTH * INSPIRING ACHIEVEMENT * BUILDING COMMUNITY

A NIB is any school district employee, student, volunteer, or community member who exhibits the characteristics of the South Kitsap School District vision of Nurturing growth, Inspiring achievement, and Building community

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Mason Wheeler, Greyson Mirano & Christian Lewis
SKHS Students

Students that take the initiative to create, organize and complete fun activities for the school must be celebrated! Heat Week was the brainchild of Greyson Mirano, Christian Lewis and Mason Wheeler. They thought a great community-building event would be to challenge teachers to taste hot sauces to see who could “handle the heat!” This event created a “hot topic” for all my classes to discuss! Way to raise the heat at SKHS for the teachers. 

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Brylie Ellis
SKHS Student

Brylie heard a student collapse in a stall in the bathroom. She crawled under the door to open it and supported the student until help arrived.

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Jessica Barnum
Marcus Whitman

Jessica is excellent at making connections with students. She makes our most vulnerable students feel safe and seen and pulls out their full potential! She is a joy to work with and always comes into each day with a positive attitude that her students can feel! She jumps in to help model CHAMPS and High 5’s throughout the school as well as being advisor to the ASB and part of the Parent Outreach Committee.

 

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Ellen Kisiday
East Port Orchard

Ellen is a bright light of warmth and empowerment at EPO. It doesn’t matter who it is- staff, students, families; she is always welcoming, goes above and beyond to help them, and is reliable to see them through a problem until the end. She is part of the foundation of EPO and what makes people believe in education.

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Michele Standridge
Hidden Creek

Michele is our special education K-2 Social Communications teacher at Hidden Creek. She provides real-world, life skills activities for her students to practice learning how to solve conflicts, control their emotions, and how to interact positively with others. She recognizes when a student needs more support than the general education teacher can provide, she offers her time, expertise and love to ANY student who needs an alternative setting.

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Patrick De Vega
Teaching & Learning

I asked Patrick for some resources to help my students use Canva to create documentaries. He not only located Canva’s how-to video for me, but he created an instructional video for my students to watch that covered all the main skills they need to get started. I received this fantastic resource less than a day after I had emailed my request for help. Thank you, Patrick for your super speedy help! learn.

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Kate Turek
Hidden Creek

Mrs. Turek’s dedication to her job and students is amazing. She continually tries to make learning engaging and fun for her students, while giving them her best every single day.

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Stephanie Clark
Office of Special Services

Stephanie is our go-to when there are questions regarding programs we use in the Office of Special Services; she is ready and willing to assist you in finding whatever information you need and to teach you to find it on your own in the future. Her efficiency and knowledge base make her an incredibly valuable member of the team. Stephanie has a great sense of humor and a fantastic person with whom to work and we are lucky to have her!

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Trish Tierney
SKHS

This teacher goes above and beyond to connect with students, build relationships and include all in her fun and engaging classroom environment.

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Harold Vickers
SKHS

Senior Chief Vickers organized the Martin Luther King Day of Service where cadets performed community service at 11 different locations around Port Orchard. Senior Chief motivated the entire battalion by briefing the cadets on the importance of supporting and taking an active roll in improving their community. Cadets cleaned, painted, and landscaped at city parks, Habitat for Humanity and local ‘Adopt a Highway’ roads. Senior Chief Vickers’ devotion to community and the battalion resulted in an extremely successful service event that greatly benefitted the community, school and Wolf Battalion.

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Randee Burks & Christina Wilson
SKHS

Tina is a 1:1 Paraeducator with a very bright student with autism. With Tina’s help, the student has learned self-monitoring skills, increased her independence and work tolerance, and is reaching academic goals.

Randee’s calm consistency has created an engaging and respectful environment that is conductive to learning. She implements teaching strategies that are appropriate, and which have resulted in students’ academic and emotional growth.

 

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Matthew Apone
South Colby

With exceptional attitude, team work and dedication, Mr. Apone leads a class of 4th grade students as a long term substitute. He is consistently a pillar in the school volunteering to help in any way he can; Craft Club, bus duty, committee work, assemblies. His ability to support students, staff and the school as a whole is something that should be recognized and celebrated in an educator.

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Marcus Logue
SKHS

I’ve been working with seniors this year, and Marcus has continued to impress me day after day as the Dean of the senior class. He is helpful, thorough, punctual, provides clear communication, and students love him. He never hesitates to drop everything for a student or staff member who needs his help. Marcus is the epitome of what an exemplary Dean should be and it has been an absolute pleasure working with him this year.

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Lisa Kirkpatrick
SKHS

Lisa has been a leader in the SKHS Social Communications with her previous years of work as a paraeducator. Lisa is extremely helpful with student support in our classroom of academics and social communication key milestones. Lisa is a leader that helps the team around her in times of happiness and times of hardship.

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Cheri Lyman
SKHS

Cheri Lyman is one of the most hard-working ladies I have ever known. She comes early to get ready for the day/week. She stays late to help students get work/tests submitted, serves on district committees and as department chair. She makes sure the rowing machines and bikes in the fitness center are working for our students by doing repairs herself most times. This is her last year in our district and she most definitely deserves a NIB for all her hard work in our department and in our district.

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Katie Levy
OESD

Katie Levy has helped my classroom so much with her behavior expertise. She has given us tools to help our students and helped staff feel more confident in their abilities. We are thankful for Katie!

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Shara Nelson & Amanda Winslow
Mullenix Ridge & OSS

Ms. Nelson  and Ms. Winslow will do whatever it takes for student success. They have gone above and beyond expectations in getting a student to come to school independently. The two of them drove her to school a few times, and the last two mornings Ms. Nelson has ridden the bus with her! It means so much that they are doing all they can do to work with my daughter.

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Lyle Skillman & Brian Horch
SKHS

Brian has volunteered many hours to the Theater Department at SKHS. His expertise in set building has been invaluable to the Stage Craft class as well. He is the lead on the Addams Family Musical set.

Lyle brought a whole crew of volunteer contractors to build the set that he and Brian designed. They put together an incredible set that will be use for the Addams Family Musical and was designed to be modular and useable for future shows.

 

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Courtney Roberts & Jessica Hughes
Food & Nutrition Services

The EPO FNS team has gone above and beyond this year while serving meals. They are serving over 500 meals a day with a team of two! The dynamic duo have come up with efficient ways to streamline processes, make the lunch line move faster, and overcome challenges. They make a difference daily for the importance of school meals and serving those meals with a smile. They are truly appreciated and are superheroes in the kitchen!