Your Story Matters at Mason City Schools

This week’s #YourStoryMatters podcast features Curt Bly, Mason High School’s Varsity Baseball Coach who has taught English to MHS seniors for the last 22 years. Bly shares how he and his family are navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, and some of the ways he is leaning on #CometCulture lessons when helping his students and players process the loss that comes from a school year cut short, and a baseball season cancelled.

“There are things that happen in our life that are true perspective-creating events.”

Fatma Elmaery, Shaimaa Garaween and Brandi Holmes helped found the Lunar Moms, a group of Muslim-American Mason City Schools Moms. The Lunar Moms have spear-headed several efforts to give back to the schools through the Mason Schools Foundation, hosting a CommUNITY Iftar sponsored by Diversity Council, and providing children's books and resources to Mason teachers.  

This episode of the Your Story Matters podcast was recorded before our country was impacted by COVID-19. A lot has changed since then - including the ability to hold the Diversity Council sponsored CommUNITY Iftar this year. For all of our neighbors who are preparing this week to enter the month-long holiday of Ramaddan, we know it will be different when breaking fast without friends and extended family. We wish you and all of our listeners good health.

This week’s #YourStoryMatters podcast features Jeff Schlaeger, Mason High School’s School Psychologist and SIBS advisor.  Jeff shares stories of the people in his life who have made his passion for “saying something” about suicide very personal, and how proud he is to work with students who are ending the stigma around talking about mental health. As a dad of a recent graduate and a high school senior, Jeff shares how he and his family are navigating the COVID-19 pandemic - including how they are celebrating Passover during this time of social distancing.

This week’s #YourStoryMatters podcast features Mason High School Class of 1986’s Kevin Peyton, the Executive Director of Joshua’s Place - one of the district’s partners in providing holiday help and food assistance to families in need.  Kevin shares the quick pivot that happened as the organization understood how the COVID-19 pandemic would particularly challenge families in poverty, and provides information about a new win-win opportunity to support our local businesses and families in need with the Comet Carry Out. Kevin also pastors a local church, and like billions of Christians around the world is preparing to celebrate the holiest of Christian holidays during this time of social distancing. He shares that while the sacraments will be different, he is embracing that this is a point of time and to remain focused on what Easter really means. Kevin and his wife, Nona, started dating in 8th grade and are the proud parents of two adult children, and a much loved grandson.

This week’s #YourStoryMatters podcast features Mason Intermediate School teacher Amy Boynton. Amy has been teaching Mason sixth graders math for the last 17 years. She and her husband, Brian, are the proud parents of two children Ella & Axel. Ella was diagnosed with leukemia a week before her second birthday, and the family is passionate about raising funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

For 13 years, Lenka Crawshaw has been serving Mason English Language Learners and their families as an ESL Aide. Originally from Chile and trained as a midwife, Lenka moved to the United States as an adult and married her ESL tutor. She and husband have been married for 25 years, and are the proud parents of 4 Mason High School graduates.  The Crawshaws love serving the community, and in their spare time enjoy biking, yoga, playing pickleball and euchre, and salsa dancing.

This week's #YourStoryMatters podcast features Mason Early Childhood Center first grade teacher BJ Smallwood. BJ's calling to be an educator happened after experiencing it.  He wanted to go into sports broadcasting and loved an internship with Fox Sports. As a college student wanting to earn some extra money, he picked up a job at Miami University's daycare, and the rest is history. After student-teaching in Mason, he's been impacting his students and colleagues' lives for the last 17 years as a Comet. The Dad of two Comets is grateful to tell people he "Gets to go to school, not I have to go to work."

"There was never, ever a time I thought I'd be a teacher"

This week's #YourStoryMatters podcast features Mason High School senior Quinn Robinson. Quinn is a star on the school's competitive jump rope team, the Comet Skippers, an active member of SIBS and NHS, and one of the founding members of the school's Hope Squad. She and her classmates are encouraging community members to attend a special event on February 27 with Kate Fagan, New York Times best-selling author of What Made Maddy Run, who will share how achievement culture affects teens, as well as the need to increase communication on the transition from high school to college. 

Mason High School Child Nutrition Kitchen Manager Sarah Burkhart is a face many students look forward to seeing each day.  Not only does she oversee making sure that 3500 high school students are fed lunch in an hour and half - but she has a gift for really seeing people, and being there for kids who need someone in their corner. Sarah is a biracial single mom of three Mason Comets, and serves on the school's Inclusive Excellence Team. 

Dr. Littisha Bates serves as an Associate Professor of Sociology and a Faculty Affiliate of Africana Studies at the University of Cincinnati, where she is a co-founder and executive board member of the Black Faculty Association. Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, Littisha and her husband, Juan, are now raising three Comets. Littisha shares how important it is for marginalized peoples to have affinity groups, and is excited about how the district's Culture and Inclusive Excellence work impact our children and community.