By Joshua Kauffman,
Middle school principal
This column is reprinted in part from the spring school newsletter.
If there has ever been a year where we can all be grateful that we live in Bluffton and truly do come together as a village to ensure our students are taken care of by working together, this one has been it. .    

Since mid-year, our students have been hard at work despite the restrictions and limitations they have faced.

Our winter sports teams had successful seasons: the 8th-grade boys basketball team won the league title and ended their historic season as NWC tournament runners-up, losing only one game in their two years in the MS.

The 8th-grade girls were also runner-up in the NWC tournament. The quiz bowl teams were competitive, always placing in the top tier of those schools in attendance.    

Despite not being able to perform live for our community as we have in past years, our choir, band, and strings students still put the work in for their virtual concerts and are continuing to work hard in the spring.

I know Mrs. Zink, Mrs. Lewis, and Mr. Sycks wish they had been able to showcase the students in live performances for you, but they did a great job of recording, editing, and getting the links out to the community so everyone could watch our students in action.

One of the luxuries of those virtual concerts was seeing the joy the students and teachers still had, even though they were coming through the doors in shifts, wearing protective gear, and following safety protocols in order for the event to even take place.    

Another big event that we still were able to have was our annual 8th-grade idol competition. Edging out a fantastic group of competitors, 8th-grader Kaleigh Coffman took home the trophy this year.

As with all other events this year, this activity had to be modified with extra work invested to zoom the competition so other classes in the school could view it too.  Bringing this to life required a great deal of coordination by the staff.     

With the arrival of spring and the hopeful farewell to the winter snow, we are well into our spring sports. Many students are participating in track, and it has been wonderful to see them in action, enjoying what they love to do.   

A favorite activity is the Lego League competition, and that will be coming soon.    

Another big event on the horizon is our annual Night-at-the-Museum, which, this year, will be held for students only on May 20.

Even though we will not be able to involve the public like in years past, we are still hopeful to be able to put together a virtual recording of the event so families and community members can see the hard work of the students and teachers.    

As we conclude the school year, I want to thank all our community members and partners for helping to make the year a success.

It is my hope that even though our year has been different, we can look back on it and use it as a point of reference not only to appreciate each day and the years ahead a little more but also to look forward to our upcoming school year with a mentality that motivates us all to make up for the last year and a half and to do awesome things for students. 

I’m looking forward to it.