It's hard to maintain in high school unless you have your own feeder system. We have a lot of kids going to Academic Magnet or who choose to go to Bishop England. The next few years, we could do well, but the key is to keep getting the kids in.

Giselle has no problem. She does really well in school. Some kids it might affect. They might go to school and speak Spanish. She does everything in English.

I think the middle school does a really good job with starting kids off really liking it, and I think it really helps that we're all in the same building and that we have great teachers.

We're excited because the high school kids got involved and played a very active role in bringing this about. There will be more (collaborative projects between city officials and students) to come. I love working with the students. They have such energy and enthusiasm. It's been a great first project.

These kids went 18-0 as eighth-graders at Merritt Middle School when I came back to Indianola. That told me we would have some talent down the road. They work together as a unit. That's the key to this team — and I think they can go a long way.

I am going to try to do a lot of promoting within the school and try to get the kids involved.