SJSD educators celebrate the start of the school year with convocation
By Jazmine Knight
St. Joseph teachers and staff geared up for the school year Monday morning at Civic Arena with the annual convocation.
District employees welcomed in the 2024 school year with speeches from board members, the superintendent and special performances from students across multiple St. Joseph schools. During convocation, Robert Sigrist, assistant superintendent of business and operations, led the show as he brought up multiple speakers to the stage. Each speaker grew up as a child in the St. Joseph School District and is now making an impact in the St. Joseph community or their respective career fields.
One speaker, Kristina Thomas-Wilkinson, spoke about the importance of empowering young people.
“It takes a true village to create the leaders of tomorrow. I believe that they are the warriors of today,” Thomas-Wilkinson said. “They face a lot of challenges and adversity, and it’s important for them to have someone to show up for them, believe in them.”
As a St. Joseph native, she said it’s her duty to give back. She was a student in the St. Joseph School District from third grade to 12th grade. She now teaches at Carden Park Elementary.
“I mean, those kids teach me,” she said. “They teach me more than I teach them.”
Thomas-Wilkinson said her favorite part about teaching, aside from learning all the cool lingo, is interacting with so many different personalities.
“Adapting to who they are. They’re amazing kids, and I love them. I love what I do,” Thomas-Wilkinson said.
However, being a positive role model is even more important for Thomas-Wilkinson. In 2015, she beat cancer. Now in 2024, she has been diagnosed with cancer once again, but it’s her students and her family that keep her determined.
“My word is still determination, but also faith. So with that, just having the promise and knowing that if I believe in it, I can achieve it,” she said.
She said the same thing applies to the classroom. She instilled in students that if they can believe it, they also can achieve it.
For Thomas-Wilkinson, St. Joseph will always be her home, where she grew up, which is why impacting the community around her is so important.
“This is where I grew up. Why not? I could go anywhere else, right? But why not create that change here? Why not give back here? So that’s why I’m here,” Thomas-Wilkinson said.
