Valley kids win kudos for attitude

I graduated from South Kitsap High School in Port Orchard, Wash.

At that time, South Kitsap was the largest school in the state in terms of the size of its student body. My graduating class had around 800 kids. But one thing my school had in common with most other schools was “cliques.” We had the jocks, cheerleaders, preppies, loners, rockers, nerds, etc. And while walking the halls or sitting at lunch you could scan your surroundings and see all the kids falling into their groups depending on status and popularity. I just took it for granted that this is just the way it is in school. Palmer proved me wrong.

When I moved back to Alaska in 2007, I came ahead of most of my family. The exception was my son, Austin, who was having a hard time in Washington and joined me just a few weeks after I arrived. His introduction to school in Alaska was Butte Elementary. It was October, so school was well under way. I met with Mr. Kitchen and Ms. Boozer, who were the principal and Austin’s new teacher. They were great. I explained the emotional stress Austin had experienced in Washington and how it had affected his performance in school. They were very sincere in their understanding and promised to help me work with my son through these issues.

As I drove Austin to his first day at school, I wondered how it would be for him to be the “new kid” in class. All my children are extremely close, so he was already a little sad and missing his brothers and sister, who were still in Washington. I knew it would be uncomfortable walking into the classroom on his first day and getting sized up by the other children. Would he spend his first recess by himself? Would he be lonely? Would he make a friend? I did my best to radiate an air of everything-will-be-cool confidence as I saw him off.

That afternoon, a very happy young man came home from school. When I asked Austin how it went, he told me that he was almost instantly surrounded by the whole class and welcomed to the classroom and the school. When he went to recess, he had no shortage of classmates wanting to play with him or show him the ropes regarding his new school.

He said, “Dad, it’s like the whole class are friends with each other!” Austin was pretty amazed and, frankly, so was I.

After my wife, Glenny, and the rest of the family arrived in December we enrolled three more children in school, two at Butte and the oldest at Palmer Junior Middle School, and they all experienced the same warm welcome. As we got to know the staff at these schools, especially Butte Elementary, we came to notice they have truly perfected an environment where the entire student body is treated like one big family.

Children don’t compete or segregate each other with cliques or even by grade level. I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for Dan Kitchen for this amazing feat he has accomplished at Butte. But judging by the behavior at the middle and high school level, I have to believe this attitude about teaching children is also practiced at other elementary schools as well. While I’m not saying there isn’t some element of different styles and groups in the upper grades, it seems that by the time children reach these schools they bring this attitude of “we’re all one” with them.

I now have two boys at Palmer High School, two at Palmer Junior Middle School and two at Butte Elementary. They love their schools, their teachers, and we have rarely had any issues during their school careers here in Alaska. Fights at the schools are rare, graffiti and vandalism are rare and the scary violence that seems to be rising like a plague in Lower 48 schools seems to have thankfully not made its way to Palmer.

At every grade level, I see children who choose their friends based on personality and not some silly perception of status. When we travel to sports events at other schools and towns other parents and school staff compliment us on how well Palmer students get along and how helpful they are.

And Austin? Austin is in eighth grade this year, his last and final year as a middle-schooler before heading off to Palmer High School. He gets excellent grades and has made the Top 100 for GPA. He has been competing in wrestling, track, chess club, weightlifting and is in cross-country for the first time. He does great in school and I get compliments from his teachers and coaches about his manners. I’m very thankful for our local Palmer schools regarding much of Austin’s success and the wonderful success all my other children enjoy here.

Ben Compton is a Palmer resident and publishes his column under the tagline “Compton’s Corner,” the same title used by his grandmother, Phyllis Compton, a longtime Frontiersman columnist.