MISD Community Heads North to Support Border Brawl Football Games

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A battle over state lines kicked off the Mansfield ISD 2018-19 high school football season.

MISD football teams, bands, cheerleaders, drill teams and fans made the trip up north to celebrate the inaugural Border Brawl football competition on Aug. 31, in which five MISD teams faced five Oklahoma teams.

“This is something special for our school district and for our kids to experience,” said Legacy High School head coach Chris Melson. “It’s not just the football team. You got the bands, drill teams, cheerleaders, supporting staff… everybody gets to experience it.”

Border Brawl was brought to life by MISD Athletics Director Philip O’Neal and Superintendent Dr. Jim Vaszauskas.

Legacy High rush onto the field against Jenks.

The idea was to provide students with new opportunities while engaging in friendly competition.

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

“Our kids have never gotten to do something like this,” said Daniel Maberry, head coach at Mansfield High School. “You get to see games on T.V. all the time where teams sometimes travel to Florida or Nevada to play some of the private schools, but these are two quality programs coming together to experience something they never have before.”

The Oklahoma competition included teams from Union, Jenks, Broken Arrow, Bixby and Sand Springs.

Even though the games took place hours away, there was no shortage of MISD fans. Hundreds of people filled the stands to show their support.

“To be here at the Border Brawl is just showing that Texas and Oklahoma can come together and make something like this possible,” said Brandon Jones, junior at Summit High School.

O’Neal said that apart from the competition, Mansfield ISD being able to come together as a unit was priceless.

“This is an opportunity for Mansfield ISD to be unified in their effort to come to Oklahoma and compete against the Tulsa-area schools as one,” he said. “The benefits of that go way beyond the sports field.”

The same schools will face each other again in the Border Brawl track meet, which will take place at the start of the 2019 track season.

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.

MISD High School Students Unite to Help Hurricane-Devastated School District

Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the shores of Texas in August, and the effects of the devastation will take years to mend.

Bloomington Independent School District is one of the communities that was hit hard by the storm. The area has 85 percent of its homes still damaged, and rebuilding has been a challenge—even for its schools.

When MISD high school students heard that Bloomington ISD students and their families were still struggling to recover, they decided to put their rivalries aside and join forces to make the holiday season a little more joyful.

“What we’re doing is raising this money to give back to the kids in time for the holidays so they can have the stuff they want,” said Dejardin Moffett, a junior at Timberview High School. “Their families may not be able to pay for the toys because it’s not a necessity.”

The community fundraiser was held Nov. 28 at El Primo's in Mansfield.

The students held a silent auction fundraiser and invited the community to come out and bid on several baskets full of goodies. Their goal was $10,000, but they ended up raising $15,000.

Other community members also pitched in so that Bloomington ISD students could have books, a gift card and a t-shirt.

“I know a book isn’t everything they want, but I hope they appreciate it,” said senior Sadie Johnson of Legacy High School. “I hope they feel loved, and I’m really excited.”

MISD staff and a few of the students will deliver the presents to Bloomington ISD on Dec. 13. Moffett said he hopes high school students all across the district will continue to unite for the greater good.

“We are MISD, meaning we are all one district,” he added. “Projects such as this are an example of #WeAreMISD because we’re all coming together and using our power, our great student leaders that we have at every school, and putting it together to do something great—not only for our community, but for other communities outside of us.”

A Celebration for Seniors Committed to Serving Our Country

Various branches of the military were represented at the event.

It is reported that one percent of the U.S. population actively serves in the military. Sixteen Lake Ridge High School seniors were recently added to that percentage, and they received a hero’s celebration for making that commitment.

Lake Ridge High School held its first Military Signing Day on May 24. The day was a celebration of the students who have signed to enlist in the military or received a scholarship for a college Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program.

The Army, Navy, Marines, and National Guard were all represented. Two of the recruits were even accepted into the prestigious U.S. Military Academy (West Point) and the U.S. Naval Academy.

“It was a very long process that started at the beginning of my junior year,” said senior Isis Coty, who was nominated to the U.S. Naval Academy by U.S. Congressman Joe Barton. “It was a blessing all around, and it felt really great to honored at the signing day ceremony.”

Isis Coty (middle) said she later plans to go
into The Marine Corp.

The auditorium was filled with students, parents, staff, community leaders who were ready to cheer on the recruits for their decision. An officer with the U.S. Marine Corps conducted the official swearing-in ceremony to conclude the day.

“I get so emotional thinking about how proud I am of these kids,” said Kayla Middleton, librarian at Lake Ridge High who helped orchestrate the event. “It’s so courageous that they’re willing to selflessly say, ‘I’ll do it. Pick me. I’ll stand there and defend our country so that you can sleep night.’”

Middleton said although it was her idea, none of it would have been made possible without the help of counselor Lea Lester and JROTC instructors Sedric Wade and Bertha Middlebrooks.

The organizers said the event went as planned, and they are excited to make it an annual tradition. Altogether, MISD has 80 seniors who plan to enlist into the military after graduation.

View the full photo gallery here.

High School Senior Graduates at 15 Years Old

Donyea Grayson is just like any other high school student. She stays active in school, keeps up with her grades, and likes to hang out with her friends.

She’s excited to cross the stage this June on graduation day, but she won’t be able to drive herself to the event.

In fact, she can’t drive anywhere at all by herself because she’s only 15 years old.

“My friends forget that I’m this young,” said Grayson. “I started high school when I was 12, but I’m lucky that I had my older brother there with me so that he can sort of protect me.”

As a child, Grayson skipped two grade levels. She’s used to being the youngest in her class and said that it pushed her to be a stronger person and work even harder.

“It helped build my character because early on, it was hard for the kids to accept me since I was younger,” the 15-year-old recalled. “I pushed myself to prove to my teachers and classmates that I did belong in that class.”

Grayson is involved in many organizations at Lake Ridge High School. She was on the Academic Decathlon team, cheerleading squad, and a member of the National Honor Society.

Her momentum won't stop when she graduates.

She will be attending The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the fall with hopes of majoring in psychology and eventually going to law school. She was admitted into the UCLA Academic Advancement Program (AAP) and made the UCLA Cheer Squad of 10 females.


“I essentially gave up two years of childhood for two years of adulthood,” said Grayson, who expressed excitement for her future. “I would do it all again because it shaped me to be who I am today.”

MISD High Schools Give Back in Big Ways

Timberview High raised money for more inclusion in advertising.

Whoever said that kids these days don’t care about others obviously has never heard about the charity weeks that happen each year on the Mansfield ISD high school campuses.

Timberview High, Summit High, Legacy High, Mansfield High, and Lake Ridge High all get the entire campus to rally around a noble cause for a week-long fundraiser filled with pep rallies, contests, product sales, and dress-up days.

This year, students from Frontier High School—a school solely for juniors and seniors that focuses on post-graduation preparatory programs—decided they wanted to join their fellow campuses and give back to the community in a big way too.

“Our student council met over the summer and said they wanted to serve the community and create those unique experiences like the rest of the high schools in the district,” said Catherine Dearing, student council sponsor at Frontier High School.

The planning then began for Students Performing Acts of Random Kindness (SPARK) Week. Dearing said the kids chose to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association because a number of people, including herself, have had loved ones struggle with Alzheimer’s. The goal was to create support and awareness for the disease.

"There are a lot of misconceptions about Alzheimer’s,” said the English teacher. “We were able to have an Alzheimer’s Association representative do a Q & A at our campus. I was really proud of the students and was excited to see some of the light bulbs coming on as questions were answered.”

At the end of SPARK Week, students created a promise garden to represent how each person is connected to someone with Alzheimer’s.

“It brought people together to see others going through the same thing,” said Dearing. “It certainly increased everyone’s morale and buy-in into our mission.”

She said the total amount of funds raised is still being calculated, but it was not about the money. She was happy that the week allowed students to serve the community in a way that was meaningful to them.

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Take a look at what other MISD high schools did for their charity weeks:

• Timberview High’s Helping Others Through Giving (H.O.G) Week raised more than $19,000 for Changing the Face of Beauty to drive home the need for more inclusion in advertising.

• Summit High’s Friends Reaching Out and Giving (F.R.O.G.) Week made a dream come true for a child in the Make-a-Wish Foundation who desired to go to a Manchester United soccer game.

• Legacy High’s Legacy United through Caring and Kindness (L.U.C.K.) Week contributed to the medical bills of an eight-year-old named Christian who has health complications and has undergone multiple surgeries.

• Mansfield High’s People Encouraging And Caring for Each other (P.E.A.C.E.) Week will be May 14-20. The campus will raise money for a little boy who has ganglioneuroblastoma, an intermediate tumor that grows nerve tissue.

• Lake Ridge High’s Boldly Embracing Acts of Kindness (B.E.A.K.) Week will be May 13-20. Students and staff will raise money to support a suicide prevention agency.

MISD Students Gain National Recognition for Documentary

A call for politicians to make serious changes to the country’s foster care system is what earned two Mansfield ISD high school students national attention.

Makenna Hennegan and Kristen Laurie, from Lake Ridge High School, received an honorable mention by C-SPAN for their documentary “To a Good Home.” The cable network’s StudentCam contest received more than 2,500 entries nationwide.

The junior and sophomore duo entered the contest through a project in their Ben Barber Career and Technology Academy film class. Hennegan said the topic has been dear to her for a long time.

“I always cared about the foster care system,” said the 11th grader. “Some of these children live in deplorable conditions. I’ve heard stories where children are locked away without food.”

Laurie (second to right) and Hennegan (right) received a tour
of the C-SPAN bus that was parked outside of the ceremony.

The students interviewed teenagers and adults who were victims of a flawed foster care system. Counselors were also interviewed in the video to shed more light on the situation.

“I think the most emotional part of the video is when one of the people we interviewed said that every child deserves a good home,” said Laurie.

The two filmmakers received their award at a ceremony at Ben Barber on March 22. A representative from U.S. Congressman Joe Barton’s office presented them with a personal congratulatory letter.

“I would like to commend both of you,” the letter from representative Barton stated. “Issues such as these are often drowned out on the national level, and I salute you for your work to point out where the federal government can change people’s lives for the better in tangible ways.”

Hennegan and Laurie won $250 for their documentary. They said they will use the winnings to start their next creative film project.