KILLEEN, Texas — The school on Success Drive is filled with students who not only stand on success but apply it to their everyday lives.
For the past five years, the Whitis Foundation has partnered with several elementary and middle schools in the Killeen Independent School District to award students who have made daily progress in their academics.
"The Whitis Foundation started in 2015, KISD said hey we got some students doing great things in our school and sometimes don't always get recognized or awarded," said Joshua Welch, a representative from the Whitis Foundation.
Over the course of the five years, the foundation has awarded more than 500 tablets to students that were recommended by their teachers and principal.
"When we first started, we were doing a combination of bikes and tablets and the feedback we got back from many of the administrators and kids and the people in the schools, the tablets seemed to be the best route to go," said Welch.
This week, Josh Welch made his way to Trimmier Elementary School and awarded two students who have achieved in all around academic excellence.
Marcuz Lundberg, a fourth grader at Trimmier, was one of the nominated students to receive an Amazon tablet. He was surprised when the principal, Penny Batts, called his name to come on stage to receive his award.
He was selected for his continuous academic achievement and said that he loved learning in all subjects.
"You can do so many fascinating things if you know all the subjects and you can have fun with them at the same time"
Batts, who has been the principal at Trimmier for 21 years says that the Whitis Foundation awards motivates her students to keep on striving for success and always displaying citizenship qualities.
"Students are always excited to be recognized for their hard work inspite of challenges they may face in their lives. It inspires them and encourages them to continue to work hard and they feel people genuinely care for them," Batts said.
Trimmier is not the last stop for the foundation this semester. They will be showing up at other KISD campuses in the next week.
"There is some great things going on in Killeen ISD and we are just happy to be apart of it," said Welch.
Next semester, they will be back on Success Drive, honoring and awarding more achieving students.
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