Tigers one of only two Iowa schools to be recognized

On the field, inside the classroom, and out in the community — members of the Gilbert football team excel in all three environments.

Don’t just take our word for it. Listen to the National Football Foundation (NFF).

On Wednesday, the Gilbert Community School District was pleased to learn the Tigers’ football program received a 2023-24 NFF National High School Academic Excellence Award. Presented by the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation, this award goes to the top academic football teams from each state, and service work in the community is also factored into the winners. The initiative is designed to inspire and foster a culture of academic excellence in high school football teams throughout the nation.

Gilbert and Van Meter were the only two Iowa schools to receive the award. Only 56 schools nationally were honored.

“The neatest thing about this is being able to celebrate all of the things that people don’t always think about,” Gilbert head football coach Graham Lundt said. “It’s cool this foundation is doing this because they get to recognize a program. Winning and losing is important, but it’s not the only important thing.”

Eligibility requirements for the award include:

• A minimum cumulative team GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
• A superior academic application and performance.
• A successful football season.

The Gilbert football team compiled a 3.61 GPA with four of its players owning a 4.0 GPA. In all, 27 of the 31 juniors and seniors were named academic all-district this past fall, and eight players were honored with academic all-state status.

In the community, members of the football team routinely offer help to families who are moving, and they are the featured attractions at the Kids Camp that occurs over the summer, complete with a homemade Slip N Slide.

Gilbert put together a 6-3 season on the field in 2023. The Tigers won their opening six games of the season and were ranked as high as No. 2 (Class 4A) by some publications.

Lundt pointed out that many of the things celebrated in this award – the academic success, the leadership success, the community outreach success – took place prior to the start of the 2023 season. At that time, Gilbert had won only one of its previous 19 games.

“We want to go undefeated in everything we can control, and this is something we can control,” Lundt said, referring to the classroom and off-the-field success. “Every single person in the program can be a part of it because every single person can contribute to academic success, to leadership success, to growing as an individual.”

Each state high school coaches association selects its respective state’s winners from the pool of nominees. A selection committee, assembled and led by the NFF, will be responsible for choosing the one school as the recipient of the Hatchell Cup as the best team in the nation.

The winner of the Hatchell Cup will be announced on Tuesday, Feb. 6, and it comes with a $10,000 donation.

This NFF program began in February of 2021. The awards represent the first nationwide recognition honoring individual high school football teams for excellence in the classroom and community.

The Grundy Center High School football team was the national award winner in 2022-23.

Jaden Rydl has regrets every week when she walks into Gilbert Intermediate and meets with a fifth-grade girl who has become her friend. They smile. They laugh. They play games and tell stories. They confide in one another.

And Rydl, who is one of more than a dozen Gilbert High School students involved in the YSS School Based Mentoring Program, has regrets.

Why didn’t she do this sooner?

“I wish I would have gotten into it as a sophomore or junior,” Rydl, who will graduate in just a few months, said. “This is a chance to have an impact on a kid you never would have known before. Being a senior, you’re such a role model to younger kids and I feel like this is a chance to do it.”

January is National Mentoring Month, as all of us celebrate the positive influence mentors can have on our young students.

When Rydl signed up to become a mentor, she thought it would be a chance to be a good role model to her younger peers. And yet she now knows the impact she can make is far beyond what she initially thought.

“Going into it I thought this would be fun, but I didn’t realize how big of a role we could play,” she said. “You can tell they look forward to our meetings as well. She’s willing to be open and talk about stuff, and I’m glad I can be there for her.”

GHS junior Will Hawthorne, a first-year mentor as well, shares similar stories. He mentors a sixth-grade boy at Gilbert Middle School where he gets a weekly opportunity to make a noticeable difference in the life of a young student.

“It’s a great opportunity to rewind a couple of years and use what you know now to be a big buddy to someone,” Hawthorne said. “I remember when I was in middle school, I can remember mentors coming to school and they were like celebrities. It’s really interesting how, in the blink of an eye, it all switched. We go out and play at recess and all of the kids think I’m the coolest guy ever when, really, it feels like I was in their shoes just two weeks ago.”

Now in its 23rd year, the YSS School Based Mentoring Program remains impactful throughout the Gilbert CSD buildings. In her first year as the Gilbert Mentor Facilitator, Kristi Leyva says there are 30 mentors in the program and 60 members. And the program is always looking for new mentors, whether that’s high school students or leaders in the community who would like to make a difference in the life of a young student.

“It’s a neat experience because it’s outside of your every day experiences,” Leyva said. “It doesn’t take a lot of time and it really makes a huge impact.”

High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors can all sign up to be mentors, Leyva said.

“Mentors have to be at least 15 years of age,” she said. “You can be a mentee anywhere from kindergarten to eighth grade, and then freshman year, we consider that a gap year.”

Gilbert Schools’ Transportation Manager Trent Becker is one of the adults who serves as a mentor and he currently works with two students. Becker was initially a mentor nearly a decade ago and then picked back up this fall.

“I think research is pretty clear that kids who have two or three people they can count on, adult voices in their life, they tend to be more successful,” Becker said.

Becker’s weekly meetings with his mentees usually take place over their lunch period. They eat, they talk, they play games, and just have fun.

“Most people want to make a difference in the lives of other people and this is a very easy way to do that,” Becker said. “Every kid that I’ve talked to always thanks me for encouraging them to do it.”

Leyva says the program is always looking for new mentors. If you would like to find out more information about the program, enroll your child into the program, or sign up to become a mentor, head over to the YSS website HERE.

In the fall, she was named a National Merit Scholar Semifinalist.

And now this winter, she has been named a candidate in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholars Program.

Alice Zhang is having herself quite the senior year.

We’re so proud to relay to you the latest academic achievement for Alice, who received the good news about the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program last week.

Students have the opportunity to become U.S. Presidential Scholars based on three paths of accomplishment: broad academic achievement, academic and artistic scholarship, or ability and accomplishment in career and technical education fields.

Alice will now complete an application and in early spring approximately 600 semifinalists will be chosen from across the country. In April, the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars will review the semifinalists and select up to 161 U.S. Presidential Scholars.

Alice is certainly in good company, as fewer than 100 Iowa students were chosen as candidates for this prestigious award.

Alice’s academic achievement includes a 1,500 on the PSAT test as a junior and a perfect 36 on the ACT. She’s also a 4.0 student who has taken numerous advanced classes, including AP calculus (college level) as a junior.

The National Merit Scholar Finalists will be announced in February.

Congratulations once again to Alice on her tremendous academic achievements, as well as to all of her teachers who helped her to reach these milestones along the way.

The Gilbert Community School District is thrilled to welcome Tace Clarke to our team as the new Director of Food Service.

Chef Clarke got right to work at each of the four buildings last week. She replaces Deb Purcell, who served in the role for more than five years before her retirement last week.

Previously the Food Service Director at Baxter Schools, Chef Clarke comes to Gilbert with more than 20 years of experience in the restaurant and food service industry. She says she has a friend to thank for pointing her in Gilbert’s direction.

“I actually had a close friend who worked here as a long-term (substitute teacher) and I asked her what she thought of Gilbert. She said the processes and routines and families were incredible, and she really sold it for me,” Chef Clarke said. “The opportunity to have multiple buildings and be able to grow a program in a growing community at a school like Gilbert that has a reputation for excellence, it’s just fantastic.”

Chef Clarke grew up just outside of Baltimore, Maryland, and began her culinary career in Little Italy, Baltimore where she learned under well-respected chefs on the east coast.

She moved to Iowa a decade ago to serve as the Regional Operational Lead at Life Time Athletic in Des Moines. She eventually took over as the Associate Director of Food Service at Grinnell College and then moved into a leading role at Baxter Schools, where she was in her third year before accepting the position at Gilbert.

Chef Clarke says the move to Iowa has been all she and her family had hoped for when they made the decision.

“It’s been amazing,” she said. “My parents moved out from Maryland about two yeas ago … we love it here.”

Chef Clarke is excited to get to work with her new Gilbert CSD staff and put her plan in place.

“I love being able to teach the cooking to my team,” she said. “I love homemade cooking from scratch and I’d like to move in that direction instead of processed ingredients. That’s not a tomorrow thing, but the goal is to start that one day a week and go from there.”

Dr. Christine Trujillo, the Superintendent of Gilbert Schools, sees the passion and enthusiasm Chef Clarke brings to her department, and is excited to see her become a leader in the district.

“Chef Clarke brings a new and exciting energy to the nutrition department,” Dr. Trujillo said. “I look forward to watching her creativity come alive in the kitchen for our children.”

Chef Clarke and her husband, William, have two young children: Liam, 8, and McKenna, 5. William is also a former chef and currently serves as an EMT and firefighter. Liam, a second grader, and McKenna, who is in kindergarten, attend school in the West Marshall Community School District.

An avid equestrian, Chef Clarke and her family live on a farm where they all spend quality time riding.

“Before getting into the culinary world, I actually rode for many years,” Chef Clarke said. “Now I just do it for fun. We all ride and just have fun with it.”

Dr. Trujillo also wanted to thank Ms. Purcell for her commitment to Gilbert CSD during her years as the Food Service Director.

“I’m so grateful to Deb for her hard work and dedication in the area of nutrition for Gilbert students,” Dr. Trujillo said. “We wish her nothing but the best in retirement.”