Need a break? Throw a tailgate

The WEST Academy All School Tailgate may not have been set up behind a flock of parked trucks, but the event had all the hallmarks of a typical tailgate party: food, games and good company.

A fair number of students and staff wasted no time in piling their plates with delicious eats and grabbing a cold can of pop for a brief-but-relaxing lunch Friday near the front entrance of WEST Academy. There were plenty of hot dogs, chips and sweet treats to go around.

Some enjoyed friendly conversations with peers at the picnic tables. Others got caught up playing one-on-one basketball, participating in impromptu dodgeball matches or tossing around a football.

The roughly hour-long events offered a much needed break for both educators and students, who began classes about three weeks ago.

Ryan Comer, a social studies teacher, said the annual tailgate parties serve as the campus’ welcome-back-to-school cookout, a day in which students and staff can mingle and have fun without the worry of classwork.

Activities at WEST Academy are plentiful, and most of them are centered around relationship building. Friendly homeroom competitions are common. Students will soon be taking part in pumpkin contests and enjoying a harvest feast. By winter the kids are decorating doors for the holiday season.

“The kids get to see us and interact with them as just regular people instead of just seeing us as their teacher,” Comer said, noting the Newton Community School District educators have been implement the Capturing Kids’ Hearts program for the past few years. “We’re trying to create those bonds, those relationships.”

Which has always been a focus at the WEST Academy campus, he added. Building relationships through more fun and interactive activities inside and outside the classroom is ideal, encouraging students to work hard and make the most out of their stay each trimester.

Judy Nissly, a science and physical education teacher, has been working at the Newton Community School District’s alternative campus for the past 17 years, before it was even called WEST Academy. From her experience, building relationships with the kids and letting them know they are cared about will inevitably help classroom performance.

“It’s a better learning environment and it seems like we’re all cohesive and a little tighter,” Nissly said. “We kind of think of our school as a big family.

“Sometimes school isn’t all about schoolwork. It’s learning about each other. I found out some of our kids are very talented in basketball and sports. Sometimes you don’t know that when they’re in the classroom.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com