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Yelm Community Schools honors volunteers and student leaders at community night
Summary
Principals across the district recognized parent volunteers, PTO leaders and staff; students from the leadership program and a unicycle performance highlighted student engagement. Awards included volunteers of the year across multiple schools and an operations staff award for maintenance excellence.
The Yelm Community Schools board meeting featured an extended community recognition segment in which principals acknowledged the work of parent volunteers, booster clubs and student leaders across district schools.
Highlights included praise for a high-school booster leader who took on expanded responsibilities for homecoming, prom and other activities; Kyle Burgess (assistant principal at Yelm Middle School) named Brie Valentine as YMS volunteer of the year for ongoing support to clubs and events; South Elementary recognized Ashley and Matt Bell for booster leadership; Milan Elementary honored Scott and Dominic Cole for broad booster-club support; and other schools recognized PTO leaders such as Lisa and Britney Baron for event coordination and library support. David Fox presented the excellence in facilities award to Dennis Thornton for maintenance contributions; several operations and custodial staff were also recognized.
Students from the leadership program spoke about campus service activities—trash pickup, mentoring younger students, morning announcements and a monthly 'paw store'—and two high-school students, Jackson and Mariah Gibson, represented military-connected students and shared reflections on resilience. The program also featured a unicycle performance that principals said had recently been revived and expanded.
Why it matters: board members and school leaders emphasized that volunteer involvement and student leadership programs contribute to school culture, extracurricular opportunities and family engagement. Board members repeatedly thanked volunteers and staff for their contributions.
What’s next: the board moved from recognition into the district business agenda, including the attendance presentation and routine consent items.
