Welcome back to the POP QUIZ! This is a regular, yet totally unexpected, feature where we ask students, parents, staff, our friends, and partners to answer a few questions about what they are learning, reading, and thinking about. Today we feature Hykea who is a a fourth grade student at Milwood Elementary School. Readers of Ask Me About My 12,000 Kids may recall meeting Hykea last school year [here’s that post.] A lot has happened since then.
As Hykea and her classmates have shifted from virtual to in-person learning this year, we met up with this hard-working student over Google Meets to see how she was adjusting to the change. Spoiler alert: Hykea’s doing great! She loves school and being around her friends. What she appreciates most about her teachers is that “they are helping me learn new things this year.” [Hykea is also featured in the fall 2021 CIS Connections, found here.]
In looking back on Hykea’s year of virtual learning, her mother, Nikkea, was pleased to see her daughter “adapt and arise to the occasion.” And now that her daughter is physically back in the school building? “Now she is able to visually see her team and all the players supporting her in their entirety,” says Nikkea. “She can literally see the community of support, experience social connections, and work with her tutors in person versus having to just see them on the screen.” As a parent, Nikkea values CIS and stresses that it’s not just about accepting services and various resources. “It’s a deeper connection than that,” she says. “What you put in it … you get out of it. If you invest in CIS, then you can really tap into the different areas for your child… CIS is a huge part of our team!”
Alright, Hykea: pencil out, eyes on your own paper. Good luck.
Pop Quiz
What are you currently reading?
I like to read a lot. Right now I am reading book 14 of Wings of Fire [The Dangerous Gift by Tui T. Sutherland].
Did you read the 13 books in the series before this one?
No! See, my friend told me about it. I need to get this book, I told my mom … Well, I got it and opened it up and I’m like, What? I got book 14?! I still needed book one, two, three, four, five …
I was going to read book one first but now I’m on page 29 or maybe page 23 of Wings of Fire. I read it with [CIS volunteer] Mrs. Janet [Bremer].
What is your favorite subject?
My favorite subject is writing because I get to write. And science. Yesterday, our teacher put us in groups. We had to build a fan in five minutes with a small motor, a fan, cords, two cables, and a solar panel. We made it work and spin the other way. To turn it off, you had to put it in the shade.
What is your favorite word or phrase right now?
Work hard, play later.
Love that! So after you have been working hard in school, what do you like to do for play?
I do Prime Time [the YMCA’s before and after school care] so after school I take the bus to the Y and will do my homework there. Then I can read or draw quietly. Yesterday, I was drawing and then today I’m going to be reading.
What do you imagine yourself doing ten years from now?
I’ll probably still be in school—zoo school—or maybe out of it. [Hykea silently ticks off numbers on her fingers.] I’ll be about twenty.
Zoo school. So you still want to be a vet?
Yes, I love animals.
What is something interesting you’ve recently learned?
Yesterday, I learned more about the corona virus. Even though it wasn’t in science class, I learned the science behind what the virus looks like. It kind of looks like a circle.
Behind every successful student is a caring adult. Who is one of your caring adults?
[CIS Site Coordinator Samantha Darby] Miss Sam here at Milwood and at the YMCA it would be Miss Kelly. Miss Sam is nice, caring, kind, and works hard. And she’s fun. Miss Kelly is one of the Y teachers and she also helped me all last year.
Anything else we should know about you? Any question we didn’t ask that we should have asked?
Are you a sticker lover?
Are you a sticker lover?
Am I a sticker lover? Y-E-S! I’m crazy about stickers! I made a sticker sheet with over 100 stickers. It’s really cute! My friend also made a sticker sheet. And her little sister Ava made one too.
Thank you, Hykea, for hanging out with us at Ask Me About My 12,000 Kids.
Be sure to read the 2021 fall issue of CIS Connections to find out how school is going for Hykea this year.
Tags: CIS, Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo, Janet Bremer, Milwood Elementary School, Samantha Darby, transitioning from virtual to in-person learning, YMCA
