The Socorro Independent School District selects an outstanding student to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the monthly Board of Trustees regular meeting. Students chosen for this honor seize the endless opportunities SISD provides to help them excel in the classroom and beyond. Here is how one student is seizing her opportunities in Team SISD.
Over the past three years, eighth-grader Savannah Faye Beverly Tucker has attended three different middle schools in Oklahoma, North Carolina and Texas. But for Savannah, whose father is a master sergeant in the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy at Fort Bliss, moving from one state to another is a big part of growing up in a military family. Despite the challenges of multiple school transitions, Savannah has thrived at Capt. Walter E. Clarke Middle School, thanks to the many opportunities she has seized to explore her interests and develop her talents.
Since starting Clarke Middle School last fall, Savannah has been busy maintaining straight-As while serving as National Junior Honor Society president and student council parliamentarian, competing in three UIL events, playing the viola in the orchestra, and participating in art, theater, and literary anthology.
"This school, I think, has more extracurriculars compared to any of the other schools I've been in," Savannah said. "There was choir, band, and art at my old school, and that was all the electives you could choose from. So, there's a lot more variety here which I appreciate, and it has helped me to grow and challenge myself."
In recognition of all her outstanding accomplishments, Savannah was selected to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the SISD Board of Trustees regular meeting in April, which is Month of the Military Child.
Savannah’s mother, Ashley Tucker, attributes her daughter’s success to her ability to adapt to new situations quickly and smoothly.
“She is so resilient,” Ashley Tucker said. “She hits the ground running as soon as she gets to a place and takes advantage of every opportunity to get into any clubs, sports, or activities that she can to make friends and be successful at the school.”
Soon after the family moved to El Paso in June 2022, Savannah took part in the volleyball camp at Americas High School, which enabled her to make new friends before the school year started and eased her first-day-at-a-new-school jitters.
During the school year, she met regularly with other military-connected students and Clarke’s Parent and Family Engagement Liaison Melissa Stokes to talk about any challenges they faced acclimating to a new school environment.
“(Ms. Stokes) is phenomenal at her job,” said Savannah, who has attended a total of eight schools and lived in five states. “She is someone I feel comfortable talking to about my issues. We talk a lot about the transition, a lot of social life, and what we’re doing at the moment and how she may be able to help or how we can help ourselves in each venture.”
Savannah and her family will return to North Carolina this summer as soon as her father graduates from the Sergeants Major Academy. Savannah, a future mechanical engineer, whose favorite subjects are math and science, hopes her experience in the Socorro Independent School District will boost her chances of getting into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has already been accepted into a high school STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) program in North Carolina.
“I would not have been able to get into such a competitive academy if it wasn’t for all the opportunities that I’ve been given while I am here,” Savannah said.
Savannah’s science teacher Crystal Gomez said Savannah was one of her most exceptional students, and she sees her star pupil doing great things in high school and beyond.
“She is top of her class and always strives to do her best in everything,” Gomez said. “Great things are to come for Miss Savannah.”
Published April 18, 2023
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