By LAURA BROOKHART / Community Columnist

“Beginning third grade at HIS was exciting as we were moving to a new school.

The sad thing was, we would start at the lowest grade all over again!

My third grade teacher was Mrs. Blackmon, the same teacher my brother had when he was in the third grade, which I thought was cool. Sometimes she would call me by my brother’s name, which was funny. I especially enjoyed that sometimes she would even let us play board games.

By fourth grade, we were at the middle of the three grades and we were less likely to get picked on. My teachers, Mrs. Hamby and Mrs. Elliott, were one of the best parts of my year. I just loved their enthusiasm with teaching us.

The work was more challenging for our brains. The teachers used a coupon system where if you get 10 stickers in a row, you get to pick a coupon.

There was a ‘no shoes’ coupon, also a ‘hat day’ coupon among others. Fourth grade teachers went out of their way to come up with fun methods for us to learn.

Now, in fifth grade, I like doing hands-on science experiments with Mrs. Heim. These help us remember what we are learning.

Recently, with Mrs. Carpri, we did a book tasting! Each of us brought a food that went along with the book that we were reading and shared tastes of it with one another.

The fifth grade teachers have a system where if it’s your birthday, you get to go and get your favorite kind of candy—an entire box! As a fifth grader, I have more responsibility to get my assignments done and complete my work in a timely manner.

I have also been a part of the GRC program with Mrs. Abernanthy, Mrs. Miller and Mr. Green for my three years at HIS. I have enjoyed so many things through my years in GRC but some that are most memorable are building robotics, studying the Greek alphabet and putting ourselves in the situation of others.

These are some of the memories I have from attending Helena Intermediate School.”