Coach of the Year
Head Football Coach John Perry has been coaching for 32 years, six of those in Nixa. He is always trying to teach his athletes character, how to grow, act and be successful in life.
“I love football, and I believe that God put me on this earth to serve other people and to try to make a difference in young people’s lives,” Perry said.
Perry said he is thankful for the students’ support of the football team. He said that energy is contagious, transferred from the students, to the team.
“Since 2022 we’ve lost one home football game,” Perry said. “In four years. And that’s because, in large part, the students show up every Friday night, and they’re absolutely awesome…. They make this a great place to play for us, and a very bad place for other people [teams] to play.”
Teacher of the Year
History teacher Alexander Edwards was named Nixa Public Schools Teacher of the Year. He creates a learning environment through an accessible curriculum, assignments that help build it and repetitive structure that builds consistency.
“We try to get students to dig in and make connections between the past and the present, and try to understand where they fit the larger scope of history.”
Currently, he is working on his doctorate in education through Evangel University.
“I went down the education path and my first time in a classroom – a high school classroom – I knew that that’s what I wanted to do,” Edwards said.
The classroom setting was one with engaged students, asking questions and wanting to learn more.
“I want to learn everything I can about history, everything I can about government,” Edwards said. “But, I also want students to understand that they can do the same thing in whatever subject they’re passionate about.”
Practical Arts Student of the Year
Senior Mason Aldrich is the Battalion Commander for the Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (JROTC) program. He has been part of the program since freshman year.
“What I take away [as] most… [valuable] is the clubs we do… that gives me the opportunity to travel across the state, across the country. Those have been wonderful memories, [I] made tons of great friends… I’ll never forget them.”
There are six students in the class, who are in charge of planning events such as rifle competitions, archery, raider meets, as well as a series of clubs. They have to plan months in advance with logistics such as time of arrival, transportation and cost.
“It’s very much student-led, however JROTC instructors contribute a huge amount, as far as actually like, designating what we have to do, but then it’s up to us to fulfill that, and then make sure that everything goes according to plan…” Aldrich said.
Fine Arts Student of the Year
Senior Jasmine Eisterhold has taken two years of painting and two of drawing. She said that once she got into those classes, her world of art expanded, along with her understanding of people and asking questions.
“In drawing I like to use oil pastels because they blend so much and you can have vibrant colors, and… mediums like that bring a lot of opportunities to make cool stuff with,” Eisterhold said.
Eisterhold said that success with an art project is being satisfied with the end result, as well if it looks nice. It makes her take ownership, glad she created it.
“Whenever I see my finished works, I think that it’s a good representation of what I learned, how I grew, or just… it looks nice,” Eisterhold said. “If it looks nice, it just makes me happy.”
Communications Student of the Year
Freshman Ava Harvey is going to the Speech and Debate nationals May 20 to 25, at Washington D.C., where it is possible she will do an oratorical declamation for some hundreds to a thousand people. She is also district champion in Radio Speaking and has qualified for state.
“To be an effective communicator is to listen to others first,” Harvey said. “I think communication is such an important and key aspect of life, and I think if you… want to succeed in life you have to communicate well, you have to be able to work with others, you have to be personable. Communicating is not just you doing the communication, you also have to adhere to others.”
Harvey was convinced to join speech and debate while at Nixa Junior High by teacher Corinne Maxwell. At first, she used to be nervous for competitions, as she was afraid of public speaking.
“I just don’t feel nervous anymore to go speak in front of people, and I think that’s such a wonderful feeling– of just being comfortable to talk to people,” Harvey said.
Performing Arts Student of the Year
Senior Claire Fletcher decided to do theater around second grade, after she watched “Freckleface Strawberry” at Springfield Little Theatre.
Her favorite role in a play was Madame Arcati, who deemed herself a medium, in the comedy “Blithe Spirit;” in a musical, her favorite was a dirigible— hot air balloon— pilot in “The Old Man and the Old Moon,” as well as two others and ensemble roles.
“I think the most satisfying thing about creating art is making something that’s part of myself and sharing it with so many people,” Fletcher said. “Being in theater, and being in choir and being an artist is all about giving other people the permission to also look at the world in the way that you see it, and find beauty in what you find beauty in.”
She said that artists are different because of their unique appreciation of the world.
“You create art out of a love for the people around you, … the world around you, and you find beauty in things that other people wouldn’t look twice at,” Fletcher said.
Business Student of the Year
Senior Zane Novinger joined both FBLA and DECA sophomore year. He earned the best test score medal at internationals last year and was the state champion in entrepreneurship team decision making at FBLA.
“The ability to effectively communicate your ideas is the most important skill in the business world and beyond,” Novinger said. “Being able to choose the proper words and phrasing,… communicating them with proper volume, pacing and articulation helps with networking and all around success.”
To ensure he is successful he studies for tests and practices the role plays.
“But most importantly practice general soft skills like speaking without a script and control of volume, tone and pace,” Novinger said.
