Spartans in the Spotlight

Spartan Strong Superlatives for the Week ending 4/9/2020

All staff and students have been nominated by other Spartans and their exact words have been used to describe how they have been #spartanstrong.

Academics

Stehfany Camperos Gonzalez - Has transitioned smoothly to e learning. All work is done,  up to date and on-time. Keep up the good work!

Christopher Glenn - Chris has worked EXTREMELY hard this week to make up all of his missed assignments, complete his work with accuracy, and to ask questions and get help when he needs it. His hard work definitely shows!!

Ophelia Jackson - Ophelia has been a stellar student in class and online. She daily turns in work of exceptional quality!

Libby Nutt - Libby has worked hard while doing e learning. She is focused and has completed her assignments and asked for help. She is willing to spend many long hours to get her assignments completed and willing to redo them so she can get the highest possible grades.. I believe she is worthy to be honored!!!

Antoniya Buey-Schell - Antoniya has done an amazing job in online learning in Biology. She has stayed up to date, asks good questions and has mastered a bunch of concepts! I am so proud of her accomplishments!

Ian Chapman - Ian consistently finishes his work early and has wonderful insights into whatever we are reading. He is diligent in making sure his school work is done to perfection.

Arts

Kellie Horton - Before school was suspended Kelly was a model student, creating colorful exciting art. Since then she submits her work in a timely and consistent manner. The quality has never suffered. I think Kelly sets an example by continuing to be responsible and productive in this time of confusion and change.

Athletics

Smith Warren - Smith just lost his last season of tennis, He is graduating early and will not be playing next spring. He has fantastic leadership skills demonstrated in his work ethic and through his encouraging words to younger teammates.

Farrah Fuller - Farrah has been a 4 year member of our softball program at Tabor. She has been a valuable outfielder and also a pitcher for our program. She is very dedicated to improving and has been such an asset to our program during her time here. I hate our season was cut short, Farrah had recently pitched one of her best games ever as a Spartan.

Sara Pace - Sara has been our starting pitcher for the last 3 years. Though she came to us as a very promising outfielder and hitter, she was asked to pitch and has accepted that role and excelled at it. Sara is one tough competitor and I can't imagine not having her on our team. I am very sad that our season was cut short. Sara is the young lady that anyone would love to coach.

Maddie Moore - Maddie has been a two sport athlete for me for 4 years. While playing an important role as a back-up on our basketball team, She is also our starting catcher on our softball team. Maddie was excited and looking forward to a big season in softball along with her teammates when our season suddenly came to an abrupt end. I will sure miss coaching this outstanding young lady.

Mount Tabor Cheerleaders - The Mt. Tabor Cheerleaders have been one of the best squads we have had in years at Mt. Tabor. Recently, they put together a virtual H2O dance and posted it on-line to help keep our spirits up during this stressful time. These girls also had a good attitude and smiles on their faces, before and after each game. They were very professional during the year at games and in our community. Great Job Girls! Thanks for your thoughtfulness.

Riley Walters - Riley is a senior in our basketball program who came to us this year, having moved to Winston Salem as her Dad took a job as the Associate Head Men’s basketball coach at Wake Forest. What was so unique about Riley was, she had not played basketball since the 6th grade. She quit playing basketball to focus her time on gymnastics. She is an amazing gymnast, as I got to see some videos of her performing. She was talked into coming out to play basketball and quickly became one of our top players. She worked so hard to become a good shooter and also tried to improve her defense. Riley was very determined to get better every day. She was often seen at Wake Forest, working on the shooting gun during her off time. A very intense competitor, Riley will be missed more than she will ever imagine. After a pretty hard foul in a game, she bounced up and almost stood over the girl she fouled. I subbed her out and asked her what the deal was? “She made me mad Coach and I'm not about to get pushed around.” I knew right then we had a player. A very smart young lady who was very comical in our locker room. A smile a mile long, she made us a better team and I can say that I wish I had the opportunity to coach Riley for 3 more years. I Loved being her Coach, if only for a year.

Kaelin DeNeui - Kaelin did an outstanding job in so many different areas for our basketball team this year. She finished up as one of our leading rebounders and hustle points for the year. Kaelin is full of energy and created so much havoc to the opposing team when she was on the court. What she lacked in some areas, she more than made up for it with her hustle and relentless pursuit of the basketball. She was second in steals on our team and was named All Conference this season. Kaelin will definitely be missed on the court, and also in our locker room. Being a very spiritual young lady, she spoke openly about her faith in the Lord. A memory I will cherish forever was when I was about to go into the hospital to have cancer surgery, she came into  my office and asked me if we could sit together and she could Pray for me. Needless to say, we did and it touched my heart immensely. I Love her and will surely miss her big smile and heart full of energy .

Jake Koonin and Jimmy Britt - Named to the Pre-Season All Atlantic Honorable Mention Team by Perfect Game!

Exemplary Character

MaKayla Beard - This student has everything together and is one of the most well rounded students in school. She is an exceptional student, great JROTC member, talented musician and mature and driven beyond her years. One of the greatest kids I've met.

Personal Improvement

Jontae Gladden -  Jontae struggled to complete work before we went online. Now he is the first one to join an online help session and to complete his work. He is doing a great job of communicating with me and Ms. Houlditch.

Dabrea Coker - Dabrea had struggled with attendance and completing work before remote learning. Since then she has done every assignment and been very present online. Great job, Dabrea!

Jara Thomas - Jara has always been a very conscientious worker. When she took her first online test and wasn't happy with her score, she contacted me to work one-on-one to understand each problem she missed so she would have the knowledge she felt she lacked and wouldn't make the same mistakes in the future.

Instruction

Katie Hall - I nominate Ms. Hall because she cares deeply about her students and their success. She is the girls soccer coach. I think she is an amazing teacher with great qualities. Ms. Hall is a great teacher and is always checking up on her students. Ms.Hall has daily check-ins with us to make sure how our mental and physical health is. She is caring and if we have an issue even if it’s out of her power she makes every effort she can to make sure it gets fixed. She actually listens to our suggestions and she will change and fix her class to accommodate each of our individual needs. She makes us feel like right now we need to put our family and health first and she is so supportive along the way. She makes us feel comfortable around her and she lets us feel like we can rely on her and go to her with anything. She is by far the best person handling this all and we can see that as students.

Instructional Support

Laurie Schaefer - Laurie Schaefer not only has to manage taking and teaching her classes online, but also has taken on the mantle of managing Mount Tabor's online learning hub. Such a task is no small feat. Mount Tabor's staff, students, and parents owe her a debt of gratitude for work.

Vicky Laurita - Instructional Facilitator Vicky Laurita has done an awesome job as we've transitioned to an online school. She manages to juggle many tasks while still supporting teachers. Her down-to-earth perspective and positivity is sorely needed during this time. We are fortunate to have her. Unwavering support during our E-Learning and providing staff with necessary training tools

Hollie Hutchinson - As Case Manager, Hollie Hutchinson has done an amazing job to continue to support our EC population. She has learned new technology to continue meetings with EC staff and parents of our EC students. She has kept the staff updated on all supports relating to these students and has done so with a wonderful attitude and smile. Mt. Tabor is truly lucky to have her and she always puts student needs first. She is #spartanstrong

Service to School and Community

Mary, Max and Jack U’Ren - Has arranged food pantry families to be fed by local restaurants, picked them up and delivered to Ms. Wesselman for distribution to Spartan families in need.

Beth Gemmell - Has done everything needed to help Ms. Weselman and food pantry families, never hesitated for a second.

Aimee Williams - Has answered the bell every time Ms. Wesselman has needed something for food pantry items. She got a family 4 beds for use in their homes.

Somer Layne - Coach Somer Layne is in her 6th year as an assistant coach at Mt Tabor. She originally came as a parent of Tabor graduate Brianna Denny. Once we learned she had played basketball in college, we asked her to join our staff. She has been so valuable to me and both of my programs. She relates to the girls and can plug in and listen to their concerns and problems when needed. She does a great job of instructing and coaching both softball and basketball. She also serves as a trainer/medical expert when we need her. She is an ICU nurse at Novant hospital as her full time job. In this very intense time we are experiencing, she is nothing short of a Rock Star. She is on the front lines of the Covid Pandemic, having been the lead nurse in the Covid unit. She is an outstanding person, coach, friend, role model and nurse to a lot of young lady Spartans.

Courtney Thomas and Judy Uhrig - Helped to create the WSFCS Wevideo that aired in honor of National Maya Angelou Day this past week.

Molly Lorentz, Ann Borchelt, Jordan Calaway, Janet Fangman, Debbie Burns, Kevin Williams, Paula Bennett and Shannon Kemp - Arts, Academics and Athletic  Board Co-VPs who have helped to keep things moving on the PTSA Executive Board at MTHS during recent weeks.

Ed Weiss - Mr. Weiss deserves the world right now! Everyone does really, but especially him. We have all seen him go above and beyond, his care, his passion, his leadership, his understanding, his love for our school and the students and staff, his desire to get done what needs to get done! He has always done so much for MTHS, but I don't think I have ever seen him work so hard for our students, our staff, our parents, our community than he has during all of this difficult time. Hats off to a man that is a true Spartan and is SpartanStrong!! I am proud to call him my Principal!

Robyn Wesselman - I am sure she will be alarmed at my submission. We struggled early on as we are both very protective of our teams we coach. But Robyn may very well be one of the most misunderstood members of our school. She has a very dominating demeanor to some of the students and maybe the staff. She's often loud, demanding and she gets to the point quickly. But don't mistake that for what heart she has. Robyn has one of the biggest hearts out there. During our rough times with this Covid 19 situation, Robyn has spear-headed the feeding of our kids and families beyond words. She's tracking down leads for food, reaching out to families, taking food to them and right back at it the next day. I have really enjoyed and admired the real person that I see in Coach Wessleman. Robyn is really a wonderful and great person. I'm glad she is such a vital member to our staff family. Love you Robyn