Senator Square: Carson High's Tami Burgoon named Classified Employee of the Year

The CHS faculty and staff applauds Tami Burgoon, the 2016 Classified Employee of the Year. Tami’s particular job description requires her to both physically care for and academically work with students who have severe and profound learning disabilities. She exuberantly enjoys working with these students in the Comprehensive Life Skills class. This often requires Tami to lift, carry, feed, and assist with other physical challenges as these students need full-time adult supervision.

Tami, and the other CHS staff in similar positions, literally go above and beyond to care for those who are not able to care for themselves. On top of all this, Tami has worked for Carson City School District over the past 18 years. She acquired her Associates degree from WNC, and she is continuing her education at UNR. Anyone and everyone who knows Tami, knows that her family, friends, peers, and students are the most important part of her life.

According to Pam White, a fellow classified employee, “Tami always gives 101 percent towards the kids and loves them all unconditionally.” In her free time, Tami enjoys gardening and camping. Her favorite sport is football, and her favorite team is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Two of her children attend Carson High School, one a senior and the other a sophomore. And, because summer is just around the corner, Tami wants everyone to know her favorite place to vacation, Hawaii. It is because of employees like Tami Burgoon that CHS is so amazing.

SKILLSUSA Competition
Being guided by CHS drafting and design teacher Teresa Breeden, the Career and Technical Education students excelled at the 2016 SkillsUSA competition. Twenty Carson High Students competed April 13-15, and showed their skills by receiving 8 medals, 6 Gold and 2 Bronzes, at the State level.
Five gold medalists will represent Nevada at the SkillsUSA national competition in Louisville, KY this summer. Medal winners from CHS are: Architectural Drafting: Gold: Makaela Bigley; Chapter Display: Gold: Jia Wong-Fortunato, Brennan Peterman, and Zack Simms; Chapter Display: Bronze: Ryan Lucky; Collision Repair: Gold Dylan Velez; Collision Repair: Bronze: Yareli Arreola; Job Interview: Gold: Thomas Gall. Congratulations to these hard-working students for their achievements! SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce.

Carson High School Orchestra, Honor and Jazz Band
CHS Director of Bands and Orchestra, Bill Zabelsky, is pleased to submit a picture of CHS Allstate Orchestra students Katie Matuska—violin, Emma Rosen—violin, Eleanor Sturm—violin. Photobombing the picture is orchestra director, Curt Ebersole, from White Plains, New York. Coming April 25 at 6:00 pm in Yerington is the Northern Zone Nevada Music Educators Association jazz festival. The Honor Jazz Band, Joey Calderon – Alto Sax, Jacob Richetta – Tenor Sax, Adelynn Puett – Trumpet Nick Bowler – Trumpet, and Serena Chowanski – Drums will also be playing.

Safe Grad for Seniors
Attention seniors and parents, registration forms for the CHS Safe Grad party and trip were mailed out April 4, and the deadline for registration is May 15. This opportunity is a great way to celebrate graduation and spend an exciting last time with classmates who are going in different directions in life. The party, held at Carson City Community Center, is filled with games, music, dancing, entertainment, swimming, raffle prizes, and food. After breakfast, graduates will load onto comfortable busses headed to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif. Questions? Please email carsonhighsafegrad@gmail.com. Hit ‘like’ on the Facebook Safe Grad page to be advised of all activities. Please visit the website at carsonhighsafegrad.com.

Speech and Debate Compete at Tahoe
Carson High debaters Scarlett Baeza and Sandro Figueroa competed in the area level Rotary Speaking contest at Montbleu at Lake Tahoe. The topic was “What it means to be a gift to the world, personally, and in my own words.” Scarlett took third place and Sandro was the overall winner. He will continue on to the region competition May 14. The team is hosting its annual Spring Exhibition April 29 in the upstairs CHS cafeteria from 6 to 7:30 p.m. All are welcome at this free event.

Cheerleading Tryouts
A cheerleading tryouts meeting for parents and athletes will happen April 28 at 6:00 pm in the upstairs CHS Cafeteria in preparation for cheer tryouts on May 6-7. Athletic Paperwork and assistance will be available. Questions? Contact Coach Mikayla at mikayla.y.story@gmail.com or Coach Sheila at sstory@carson.k12.nv.us.

Student of the Week
Hallery Ferrini is CHS’ student of the week. Hallery is a respectful and kind student. She is always willing to go out of her way to help other students and always has a great attitude. CHS thanks Hallery for all of her hard work and positivity! Way to go Hallery!

Senior Spotlight
This week’s senior spotlight shines on Joe Nelson. Joe has a 4.15 GPA while carrying a challenging schedule of four AP and honors classes along with being a part of Leadership. This is in addition to his athletic schedule, but this has not prevented him from earning academic letters and membership in NHS. Joe has participated in athletics at CHS since his sophomore year.

He played quarterback for the football team the past two years and has been on the baseball team for 3 years; he alternates between pitching and playing the outfield. He traveled Australia for two weeks this past summer competing in baseball’s Goodwill Series. In his free time Joe plays the piano and guitar and also watches sports. Joe will attend Central Washington University next year and play baseball for their team. He plans on pursuing studies in pre-med, in order to become an orthopedic surgeon, and eventually transfer to the University of Washington. CHS is exceedingly proud of the contributions Joe has made to the school and wishes him the best of success in his future.

— Senator Square columnist Phil Brady is an English teacher at CHS.