Alma School District honors students, teachers and classified employees; eight students headed to National History Day

The Alma School District Board of Education on Monday recognized multiple student and staff achievements, including high school choir awards, statewide History Day qualifiers who will compete in Washington, D.C., and the district’s teachers and classified employees of the year.

Choir director Kurtendall introduced high school choir director Miss Tufts, who detailed the program’s competition results. "We had a total of 54 students placed in the All Region choirs," Tufts said, adding that eight students made the All-State choir and that all four high‑school choirs received “superior” ratings at the region level. Tufts said three choirs advanced to state, all earned sweepstakes (superior) ratings at state level, and the chamber choir was named best in 5A and scored the second‑highest score in the state across classifications.

The board also recognized History Day participants. Miss Mills, the district’s regional coordinator for History Day, told the board that about 100 Alma High School students participated this year, 42 advanced to region contest, 31 advanced to state, and eight Alma students qualified for nationals. Mills introduced two of the qualifiers, Jack Snell, who is going to nationals with a senior group website entry, and Ava Mendez, who will perform a senior group performance in the showcase at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Mills said the students also will visit the University of Maryland and meet with Senator Bozeman while in Washington.

The board honored classified employees of the year from each building and the district: Basil Kenner (district support), Janet Camden (primary), Lauren Wakefield (intermediate), Belinda Bowen (middle school) and Ashley Dean (high school). Principals praised the honorees for reliability, initiative and student rapport.

District teachers of the year were named for each building: Debbie Barrett (middle school, career development/DECA), Danny Hobson (high school, performing arts), Emily Engleke (intermediate) and Amanda Shores (primary, librarian). Speakers highlighted Hobson’s time commitments to theater and extracurriculars, Barrett’s high expectations and career-skills instruction for eighth graders, Engleke’s individualized classroom relationships and Shores’ strong start as librarian in her first year in that role.

Board members and administrators said the employee and student recognitions were selected by staff votes and will be honored at an end‑of‑year competition. Superintendent Biggs noted the recognitions were part of the district’s broader effort to showcase extracurricular and academic success at year’s end.

Minor operational updates were also mentioned during the recognitions segment, including recent HVAC replacements at the intermediate and primary schools and ongoing work tied to a safety grant to install fencing districtwide.

Acknowledged speakers were staff members and community students; no formal board action was required for the recognitions.

Alma School District provided printed materials and a slide deck referenced during the meeting.