DeKalb County High School recognized its student, parent, and staff member of the month for February last Thursday morning, with each receiving a certificate and a gift card from El Jalisco Mexican Restaurant.
The Student of the Month award went to 15-year-old freshman Niravsinh “Nero” Dabhi. Originally from India, Dabhi moved to DeKalb with his mother and sister last April.
“Nero is one of our new students who has come here from India. He is a freshman and moved here with his mother and his siblings,” said Assistant DCHS Principal Jenny Norris.
“Just from the very beginning he has had the best attitude. He is always smiling, and he is picking up English very quickly. I hope he likes it here because we really like having him here. He is just absolutely precious,” said Ms. Norris.
“Nero is just a wonderful young man. He is always smiling and always friendly, and the kids have really taken him in and enjoy having him here at school. The teachers love him too. He works hard,” added DCHS Principal Bruce Curtis.
Nero said he enjoys playing badminton and computer games, and that he and his family plan to participate in an Indian celebration during Spring Break in Nashville.
Crystal Summers was named the Parent of the Month and said she is very proud of her daughter Alissa who wrote the winning essay that nominated her.
“I nominated my mom because she has always been there for me and I love her very much. I’m happy to have her as my mother because I probably would not have made it this far without her. She just means the world to me. I am very grateful for her and happy that God sent me to her to be my mother,” said Alissa.
Alissa said in the science club at DCHS, and she plans to attend Tennessee Tech to become an eighth-grade math and history teacher.
“I’m blown away,” Crystal said. “She is an amazing daughter and I am very blessed to have her. I think it’s very sweet that she did this. I am very proud of her.”
Becky Miller was named Staff Member of the Month. She is the DCHS graduation coach and formerly a Family Consumer Science Teacher.
“This is her third year as graduation coach and she does an outstanding job at that,” said Ms. Norris. “She meets with all of our juniors and seniors who are at risk for not graduating and she offers them support. She sits down with them and maps out what they need to do in order to be able to graduate. She contacts their parents. She is their biggest cheerleader and is really helping our graduation rate increase, helping these kids stay in school and stay on track. We are happy to have her in that position,” said Ms. Norris.
Miller is married to Brandon Miller, and once worked at Tom Janey’s Accounting Office, but more than a decade ago decided to earn her teaching certification. She has been at DCHS for 10 years, teaching Family Consumer Science the first seven. She then transitioned to becoming a graduation coach.
“I am super honored,” said Ms. Miller. “Any time staff vote on something like this it’s really meaningful because everybody here works really hard and they care a lot about the kids. I am so thankful to be able to do this. It’s a real fit for my personality and I love meeting with the kids one on one and getting to spend some extra time helping to coach and motivate them to graduate,” she added.
