Students with Special Needs Growing Through Sports

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Mansfield ISD students with special needs have a way to participate in year-round sports.

With the help of staff members and volunteers, Mansfield ISD All-Stars provides children in the special education program sports training and athletic competitions.

The students can choose from aquatics, basketball, bocce, bowling, cycling, tennis and track and field.

“This allows our students to do an extracurricular activity too,” said Rebecca Poggensee, an MISD adaptive P.E. teacher. “Having this type of program allows our students to interact with other students throughout the district who are similar to them.”

The students and volunteers have fun  socializing between practice runs.

MISD parent Deborah Weete said she appreciates having an organized activity where peers and adults can work together to help students reach their full potential.

“[Ava’s] involved with a group of people who love and support her no matter what her abilities are,” Weete said about her daughter. "That's what I love about it."

Coaches said the excitement on the children’s faces as they push themselves to meet personal goals is the highlight of being a part of the Mansfield ISD All-Stars.

“The experience that you get to see on their faces is like they have won the most important thing in their life,” Poggensee explained. “Just to see them beaming with pride is amazing.”

The athletes and coaches are currently in the track and field season. The team will participate at the Special Olympics Texas in Arlington on May 24-27, featuring nearly 3,000 athletes from all around the state of Texas.

View more information about Mansfield ISD All-Stars here.

High School Administrator Proves It’s Never Too Late to Start a Career

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At an age when some people have graduated college and started their first “real world” job, Melanie Lewis was still searching for her purpose.

The Lake Ridge High School associate principal spent most of her 20s in Germany as a military wife. She then began working as an elementary school custodian, which sparked her passion for kids.

“Getting to know them—I was like, ‘Well, I really like this,” she said with a smile.

Lewis returned to the United States and enrolled into The University of South Alabama at the age of 28. However, she still did not know exactly what career path to choose.

She started volunteering as a Sunday school teacher, and an impromptu conversation with one of the children became her epiphany.

“He said, ‘I wish I had a teacher like you,’” Lewis recalled. “And I said, ‘Why? You like the way I teach?’ And he said, ‘No, it’s that you just care about us.’”

Lewis graduated college with a double major in Spanish and English and earned a master’s degree in secondary Spanish. She became a teacher and thought she had reached her goal.

Lewis has always taught at the high school level.

Since she always volunteered to head committees and be a club sponsor, her principal at the time saw leadership skills within her and asked whether she would consider being an administrator.

“I was like, ‘No! I love my kids.’ And he said, ‘Right now, you’re only affecting 170 children who are assigned to your class. Imagine having 800 kids,’ which were how many kids we had in the school,” Lewis explained.

Lewis agreed with the idea of making a larger impact. She went back to school to earn a master’s in educational leadership and an education specialist degree (Ed.S).

She has held positions as a Title I facilitator, athletic coordinator, freshman academy dean, night school principal and assistant principal.

The educator moved to Texas in 2015 and is in her first year as a Mansfield ISD employee. She hopes that her story will give students and parents the courage to keep chasing their dreams when life gets tough.

“It doesn’t matter how late that you catch on. It took me a while. I mean I was a college student, and I was a mom,” she said. “Everything has just worked out. And I’m still as passionate now about education, about what I do, as the first day when I got here.”

Inaugural Texas/Oklahoma Border Brawl Creates New Competition

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There will be a battle over state lines in the upcoming track and football seasons. Five high schools from Texas and five high schools from Oklahoma will be competing with each other to see which teams are the best.

It was an idea that formed after a brainstorming session between Athletics Director Philip O’Neal and Superintendent Dr. Jim Vaszauskas.

“I wanted to find a new way to bring attention to our student-athletes,” O’Neal said. “After tossing some concepts around, Dr. V said that we should try to contact schools in Oklahoma to play against.”

The athletics director put in a few calls and knew he had made the right connection when the voice on the other line was just as excited as he was.

Steve Dunlap, assistant athletics director for Union Public Schools, accepted the challenge for the Sooner state. He is enthusiastic about this new relationship and friendly rivalry.

The competitors met each other for the first time on Feb. 27.

“I have no doubt it’s going to be a great event,” said Dunlap. “We start March 10 with the track meet, so I’m excited about that.”

The Border Brawl track meet will feature athletes from all of the Mansfield ISD high schools, along with Oklahoma high school athletes from Union, Jenks, Broken Arrow, Bixby and Sand Springs. It will take place at MISD’s Legacy High School.

The same schools will then compete throughout the 2018-19 school year in football and track.

Each region has a tradition of excellence; and although O’Neal said he looks forward to the intense competition, his favorite part of the Border Brawl is the experiences it will give students.

“I think it’s important for us to create experiences for them,” he continued. “The connections and lessons they learn from going beyond their region will help them in college and in life.”

The announcement of the inaugural Border Brawl was officially made Feb. 27 in Tulsa. Coaches and student-athletes from all participating schools attended the press conference.