LETTER TO EDITOR: Teacher Urges Community Support for School Bond Issue

I started my teaching career elsewhere, but I knew I wanted to move my family here as soon as the opportunity arose.   McPherson was a place that had an excellent reputation - it was THE place to teach because it was an amazing community and the schools were filled with amazing people.  It was big enough for great opportunities but small enough to foster independence for our kids.  We dreamed about our kids riding their bikes around town and waving at people they knew.  It felt like home right away. 

We’ve really settled in and planted deep roots in the 15 years I’ve been teaching here.  This isn’t just a job for me.  I’m invested in our schools because they shape the place we live.  MY kids live here, and thousands of kids who are really yours but who I also consider “mine” live here too.  Teaching in McPherson isn’t just teaching - it’s a team effort to raise our community members. 

Some my experiences in McPherson have included, but are definitely not limited to:

-students throwing me a surprise baby shower - some of those students are now having their own babies 

-eating cookies at the County Wide Art Show with students and their families after winning ribbons

-watching 8th graders egg each other at Madathon and then dress up for Rec and walk across stage to a full house

-seeing the same parents at all the same events because our kids do the same activities and feeling like we’ve watched all the kids grow up together

-hearing elementary kids play their recorders as they walk home after school, and then watching those same kids play in the high school concert band after a lovely lasagna dinner sitting next to their grandparents

-taking groups of kids to the Cedars to play bingo 

-kindergarteners waving at their families as they ride down main street in floats

-gyms full of McPherson people wearing pink and honoring one of their own

-watching high school students participate in extracurriculars and clubs and learning to organize and give back to their community

-seeing friendly familiar student faces at nearly every drive through I go to

-hours spent with students to paint murals to make MMS a happier place to spend our hours

-the most special, socially distanced, mid-covid lunchtimes with my colleagues who kept each other afloat when everything felt wrong

-sidelines of sporting events, making friends with other parents while we watch our kids faces light up with joy after scoring a goal

-stopping by the stadium on any given night and seeing community using our facilities -walking laps, youth sporting events, special olympics, or even just kids having good clean fun outside of school hours - gathered together and making connections

Community is rooted in connections and people are what make McPherson so great.

But our facilities need help.  I want better for our kids in a lot of ways.  I want McPherson to be *the* place to be again.  I want the connections in our community to help give back to *us* this time.  

Please take some time to go vote early.  When I voted yes, yes, I did it in under ten minutes.  And I saw a smiling former student working there, too.  

Nicky Bowers, MMS Art Teacher

Found a mistake? Have a news tip or feedback to share? Contact our newsroom using the button below:

citizen journal offers three flagship products: a daily national news summary, a daily Kansas news summary, and local news and school board summaries from 20 cities across Kansas. Each issue contains 5 paragraph-length stories that are made to be read in 5 minutes. Use the links in the header to navigate to national, kansas, and local coverage. Subscribe to each, some, or all to get an email when new issues are published for FREE!