Education column: Clovis education system outstanding

Last week, I met two outstanding fourth grade students.

One, a Parkview Elementary student, Fabian Trevino, won a national essay contest; and the other student, Cam Kuykendall, a fourth grade student at Zia Elementary, has progressed to ninth grade math.

While these are great achievements by those students, I am not surprised. You see, it reminded me why my family chose to remain in Clovis instead of moving (again) with the Air Force.

Our youngest child was going to be a junior and we had promised where she began her junior year we would try to ensure she could remain there through her senior year.

With that promise, our venture began. We have family throughout this great country and visited various schools to see if they would meet our needs.

Our daughter is an honors student, a cheerleader, was in Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp, and the Interact Club. As she was interested in continuing in each of these areas as well as getting college credit her senior year, we began comparing schools.

Our first stop was in Virginia. They had great academics but did not have the extra curricular programs she was interested in.

Alabama had beautiful buildings and the extra-curricular programs she was interested in, but their honors program did not interest her.

Then, we visited Florida; they did not offer college credit and their buildings were not well kept.

In Texas, they had good academics but she would not be able to cheer or be in AFJROTC.

So, when we did a comparison of all the schools, Clovis came out on top.

I must admit, I was surprised Clovis High School came out on top. Don’t get me wrong; everything I knew about the teachers, staff, and administration of Clovis Schools was wonderful.

But I was surprised, because until we compared, I did not realize just how terrific the scholastic opportunities where here, as well as the various extra-curricular programs, thus providing tremendous well-rounded growth opportunities for our kids.

So, last week, when I learned that a fourth grade student at Parkview won a national writing contest and another fourth grader ‘topped out’ in math at the ninth grade level, I wasn’t too surprised.

My family and I had already made the discovery that Clovis has one of the best education programs in America.

Penny Bailey is a communication specialist for the Clovis Municipal Schools. She can be reached at penny.bailey

@clovis-schools.org.