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DCHS Announces Student, Teacher and Parent of the Month
DCHS awards
Pictured from left are Assistant DCHS Principals Thomas Cagle and Jenny Norris, Student of the Month Jacklyn Kleparek, Teacher of the Month Amy Cantrell, Parent of the Month Michael Coronado and his foster daughter Essay winner Skylar Callahan Swain, and DCHS Principal Bruce Curtis.

DeKalb County High School announced their Student, Teacher, and Parents or Guardians of the Month awards for the month of February last Monday morning. Each recipient received a certificate and a gift card from Fiesta Jalisco Mexican Grill of Smithville.

Junior Jacklyn Kleparek was named Student of the Month, an award voted on by the teachers. “Jacklyn Kleparek is quite an extraordinary student,” said DCHS Assistant Principal Thomas Cagle. “She is always filling in. She goes by the see a need, fill a need motto. She is willing to help any of her teachers or fellow students. She is a soccer player, part of the color guard, and has won contests in 4-H. Jacklyn is an absolute excellent student. I wish I had 864 more like her. She is a fantastic student, and we are absolutely thrilled that she has won this award this month.”

“I feel excited,” Kleparek said. Daughter of the DCHS Soccer coaches, Dylan ‘Coach K’ and Latonya Kleparek, Jacklyn said she hopes to one day become a teacher at the school she loves. “I love math and I’m trying to take every math class I possibly can in high school. I want to go to college at Tennessee Tech and come back to teach mathematics here (DCHS). I like culinary class and the Teaching as a Profession (TAP) class at DCHS. I am also a soccer player and do winter guard.”

The Teacher of the Month honors go to ninth and tenth grade Comprehensive Development Class (CDC) teacher Amy Cantrell. “For the Teacher of the Month we have superstar Amy Cantrell, as I call her,” said Cagle. “She is in the CDC classroom and works with those students. She has had her hands unbelievably full, as you can imagine. With her patience and willingness to help do the things she does for those kids each and every day is a huge example for all the teachers and other staff in the school. She is an amazing teacher, and we appreciate all of her efforts so very much.”

“I’m very humbled and I’m very thankful,” Cantrell said. “I just love seeing the kids learn and do new things. It makes me happy to see how they light up when they see you. They are always so excited when they come into the classroom.”

Cantrell is a 14-year veteran of DeKalb County schools, spending 12 years at DCHS with one-year each at Northside Elementary and DeKalb Middle School.

The Parents or Guardians of the Month award was presented to Michael and Jessica Coronado. The honor is based on an essay written by their 15-year-old foster daughter, Skylar Callahan Swain.

“Skylar wrote a beautiful essay about the things her family is able to do for her in her life. These essays point out things their family is doing to help them and keep them in school. Her essay is a prime example of what her family is doing to support her here at school to give her the support she needs to be the best student she can be at DCHS,” said Cagle.

Swain, a sophomore, said she is thankful to the Coronado’s for making her feel safe and protected. “Jessica and Michael have done a lot for me in these last few months. I haven’t really known them that long, but feel like I’ve known them my whole life. They are genuinely great people. I was in a really bad situation, so I came here, and they made me feel protected. Not all people are like that, and not all places are like that.”

Michael Coronado is a Smithville Police Officer, recently coming from the Cannon County Sheriff’s Department. “When we first got into it, we really didn’t know what we were getting into (being foster parents). Me being a police officer and working in Cannon County for two years, I realize what kids go through. You don’t realize the impact you can have on a kid’s life. I was kind of nervous when we got her, but she turned out to be a really good kid,” said Coronado.

Every teacher can nominate a student and all teachers vote on the student nominated. Teachers are voted on by the administration. The parent of the month award is determined by student essays. Students can write an essay each month and nominate their parent for a chance to win. In the essays, students can highlight things the parents are doing in their life outside of school that we may not know about.