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Marshalltown board recognizes student leaders, donors and a STEM teacher after National Hispanic Institute honors
Summary
The Marshalltown school board recognized donors and student members of the National Hispanic Institute club after Marshalltown High was named NHI High School of the Year; the board also honored a local STEM teacher who won a 2024 statewide award.
The Marshalltown Community School District board of education on a January evening honored student leaders, local donors and a teacher after recent statewide and national recognitions.
The board recognized donors Terry Busby and Dave Adlon for giving $800 to support a leadership program that will provide Harvard-branded T-shirts for 59 seventh- and eighth-grade students selected to attend a Harvard-affiliated leadership program next week, Superintendent Theron Schutte said.
The board and administrators also announced that Marshalltown High School was named National Hispanic Institute (NHI) High School of the Year for 2024. Schutte read the NHI notification, which praised the school for sending motivated students to NHI’s summer leadership programs and for local fundraising and club activity that sustain participation.
Student club leaders described how NHI programs changed their confidence and public-speaking abilities. Mia Aguinaga, introduced as president of the local NHI club, and student speakers including Anthony Chavez and Ari Herrera praised the programs for pushing shy students to take leadership roles. Chavez said the program helped him find confidence: “It only takes one week to really change your life,” he told the board.
School staff described the club’s local fundraising, parent involvement and a dual track of core and “social” membership that keeps students connected even if they don’t travel to summer sessions. The club’s advisor said about 19 students currently participate in the high-school club and roughly 10 additional social members do not travel.
In a separate recognition, the board also honored a Marshalltown teacher who was selected as a 2024 state STEM teacher award winner. The teacher, identified in the meeting as “Miss Gray,” said she was nominated by colleague Sandy Dale and thanked colleagues for the nomination. Schutte said the nomination and selection involved a review committee and singled out the teacher’s classroom work with agricultural and veterinary labs as exemplary.
The recognitions came early in the meeting’s “recognition” agenda and received applause from board members. No formal board action was required for the presentations.
The board’s announcements also included a reminder that Iowa law restricts discussion of specific employees’ job performance during public comment and that board policy limits member responses to public comments.
The board will host the Harvard-affiliated youth leadership sessions Wednesday through Friday, Jan. 22–24, and invited the public to observe presentations at the end of the week.
The district thanked Busby and Adlon for the donation, the NHI students and club advisors for their work, and the teacher recognized for the STEM award.
