Hundreds Honored For Succeeding At School

Students, parents, teachers, and administrators packed Career High School’s auditorium to celebrate middle schoolers for their academic growth this year in such areas as reading, math and science — and to honor the many adults who work tirelessly to make that learning possible.

That was the scene during the 44th annual Florence Caldwell Title l Academic Achievement Award Ceremony, held Wednesday afternoon at Hill Regional Career High School on Legion Avenue.

The three-hour celebration honored hundreds of New Haven Public Schools students for showing up to class, learning, working hard, and improving in their studies day in and day out. 

Before the award certificates were distributed to students at over a dozen middle schools, Board of Education Secretary Ed Joyner and Mayor Justin Elicker told the crowd filling Career’s auditorium just how proud they are of all of the students’ daily hard work.

NHPS alum and recent Yale University graduate Amber Green kicked off the evening by singing ​“The Climb” by Miley Cyrus. 

In addition to honoring students, this year’s district-wide parent advisory council executive board also recognized parents for their work in the city’s schools.

One of those parents who were recognized for their hard work on Wednesday was Monique Geyer, a mother of three students who attend Lincoln Bassett and Celentano. 

Geyer walked across the same stage as her Bassett sixth grader Karissa Twigg and fourth grader Kristopher Twigg Wednesday. She told fellow parents in attendance, ​“It is a challenge raising our kids in this day and age. Keep up the good work.”

While Geyer knew her kids would be receiving awards Wednesday, she didn’t expect to win any recognition herself. ​“I give my kids my all and I’m glad people know that,” she said. 

In the past Geyer has struggled with food insecurity, housing, and ​“keeping clothes on my kids’ backs.” 

She said this is not uncommon nowadays as the cost of living has become unbearably high for many. She added that despite such challenges she works hard to protect her kids from the dangers of the streets by staying on top of their education. 

“It’s hard to keep them from becoming products of their environments. There have been a lot of sleepless nights. There have been times when they eat, but mom doesn’t. We even dealt with being homeless,” she recalled.

Towards the end of the evening King/Robinson Principal Tessa Gumbs-Johnson handed her school’s dozen awardees certificates and McDonald’s meal vouchers. 

Before Gumbs-Johnson could leave the stage, however, she herself was surprised to become the recipient the Principal of the Year Award. 

“It’s never about the principal, it’s always about your children,” Gumbs-Johnson said after receiving the award. 

She said the real reward Wednesday evening was celebrating students’ academic achievements and the huge parent turnout that was too large to fit in Career’s auditorium. 

Gumbs-Johnson, who has worked for the city’s school district for the last 27 years, said being a great principal takes patience and maturity. ​“It’s not about being quick with a response and letting things set you off quickly,” she said. ​“I learned that and now I tell anybody, ​‘let me just think on this first.’ ”

She said recent school years have exposed the difficulty of growing up during a time when technology and social media are constantly growing. ​“Suspensions don’t answer everything. There are mental struggles. Social media is so ugly and different from what we dealt with growing up. Our parents are doing their best while working two, three, or four jobs. It’s a different world now. We used to have villages and now parents are doing it all on their own.”

She concluded that, while she’s thankful for her award on Wednesday, ​“the real reward is seeing my former students succeed. That’s true success for me. The growth, not just awards.” 

One of the parents in attendance Wednesday, Veronica Gilbert, watched her son Legend Blake, who attends Lincoln Bassett, cross the stage to receive an outstanding achievement award in reading.

Her third grader has been reading above grade level since kindergarten and was recognized Wednesday for reaching a fifth grade reading level as a third grader.

Gilbert said this school year was difficult because her middle school son graduated from Bassett last year and moved on to King/Robinson. This made Gilbert’s job a bit more difficult as she is no longer a stay-at-home mom and now has her own business and had to travel between two different schools for her two sons. 

She said despite that task being tiring, Wednesday’s recognition of her son was worth it. 

She concluded with encouraging parents to join their school’s PTO to make their voices heard about challenges concerning their school and child. ​“Everything is changing with education, you have to say what your kid needs,” she said. 

The schools recognized during Wednesday’s ceremony were Bishop Woods, Fair Haven School, East Rock, Barnard, Clinton Avenue, Hill Central, John Martinez, Barack Obama, Brennan Rogers, Celentano, Ross Woodward, Lincoln Bassett, Roberto Clemente, Conte West Hills, FAME, King/Robinson, Wexler Grant, Troup, and Truman.