Four of the nearly 48 students of the Student 2 Student program at Clements/Parsons Elementary School cheered, blew horns, clanged bells and sprayed Silly String when they found out they had won a national award Wednesday afternoon.
The students won the Military Child Education Coalitionâs annual Elementary Student 2 Student Team of the Year Award.
âMan, what an honor. Those kids were juiced, werenât they?â Superintendent Joe Burns said, who was in attendance to witness their reaction to the announcement. âThey were excited about that.â
One of the students that was part of the program and who was on hand to witness the announcement was soon-to-be fifth grader Ajiyah Ruffin.
COPPERAS COVE â Room 12 of the kindergarten hallway at Clements/Parsons Elementary School in Copperas Cove erupted in shouts of triumph Wednesday afternoon.
Four students and four faculty members of the Student 2 Student program found out they had won a national award, learning that they were truly the top Dawgs in the nation.
The students won the Military Child Education Coalitionâs annual Elementary Student 2 Student Team of the Year Award.
MCEC is a nonprofit organization that is based in Harker Heights. Founded in 1998, it focuses on ensuring quality educational opportunity for veteran-connected children in the United States.
âI am ecstatic â Iâm on cloud nine,â said Audrey Trahan, a counselor at the school and the lead representative for the S2S program. âI cannot believe that we won.â
Clements/Parsons Elementary School counselor Julie Armstrong served as a military spouse for 23 years and sent her oldest son to seven different schools in his first 12 years of public education. Constantly moving, military children experience being âthe new kidâ repeatedly throughout their elementary and secondary careers.
âI can only imagine how my son would have been thrilled to be welcomed and included on his first day at each of the schools he attended,â Armstrong said. âThe main mission of the Student 2 Student Program at Clements/Parsons Elementary is to welcome all students, although it also benefits the militarily connected ones, to our campus.â