Carson Keisker made history in his final year as a Fox C-6 School District student.
The Fox High School senior became the first student to receive a Masterpiece Award, which are given out each year to district members who demonstrate an unwavering commitment to the district’s values of achievement, character and excellence.
Carson was honored for his volunteer work at the district’s Meramec Heights Elementary School, where he helps students with special needs, district officials reported.
In the past, only Fox district staff members, parents and adult volunteers had received the awards.
“The Masterpiece Awards are for the entire Fox C-6 community,” said the district’s communication and instructional technology coordinator JP Prezzavento, who won this year’s Superintendent’s Choice Masterpiece Award.
Other Masterpiece recipients were Fox district staff members Beverly Atchley, Chris Chapman, Amy Nicholas and Cody Sellers, as well as community member Greg Nicholas and district parent Anndee Glick. The recipients will be honored during an invite-only banquet set for this month.
More than 150 Masterpiece Award nominations were submitted this year, the district reported in a written statement.
“To be nominated alone is something to take great pride in,” Superintendent Paul Fregeau said. “It shows that you’ve made an impact and that others care for your dedication.”
Honored
Carson, 18, of Arnold volunteers twice a week to help students in Kathie O’Connor’s class as part of his Teaching Pathway course.
He works with the elementary school students from 10:50-11:45 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays one week and then Wednesdays and Fridays the next week.
Carson also volunteers twice a week to help students with special needs enrolled in a physical education class at Fox High.
“I like making the impact on kids’ lives,” he said. “I hear my parents at home talk about it. They are both teachers. It is something I enjoy. I have always had the idea of wanting to help students.”
Carson is the son of Chris Keisker, a retired Meramec Heights fifth-grade science teacher, and Steve Keisker, a sixth-grade math teacher at Ridgewood Middle School. Chris Keisker was the district’s Teacher of the Year in 2017.
O’Connor said Carson deserves the award.
“Carson is amazing,” she said. “He is able to really find a connection with each student. He takes the time to get to know them. He really gets to their level to engage in what they are interested in doing.”
Carson said Fox High assistant principal Mike Reese informed him about being nominated for the award, and on March 29, he learned he won it when his parents, district officials and some Meramec Heights staff members surprised him with the news in O’Connor’s classroom.
He left the class at about 11:30 a.m. that day, like he typically does, to meet kindergarten student Chris Andrews and when the two returned to O’Connor’s classroom, he got the big surprise.
“We got to the classroom, sat down and everyone walked in,” Carson said. “I was shocked. I had no words.”
O’Connor said she, however, was not shocked to learn Carson had won the award.
“I knew if anybody deserved this award it was Carson Keisker,” she said. “The look on his face was priceless. It made my entire year to see how happy he was.”
Fregeau said he is happy a student received the award, and he hopes more students will be nominated and chosen in the future.
“(Carson) is making a difference for those kids. He is a kid you can tell truly cares about each and every kid he works with,” Fregeau said. “He is an outstanding representative for the award.”
Connecting
Anyone who has seen Chris run out of Meramec Height’s main office to meet Carson when he comes to pick up the kindergartner to walk him to class knows why the Fox High senior deserves to be a Masterpiece Award recipient.
Katelyn Smith, Chris’ mother, said her son always talks about Carson and had to get used to the senior only being in the classroom twice a week.
“Christopher absolutely loves Mr. Keisker (Carson),” she said. “At first, he just kept telling me about someone I thought was named Chrysler. I came in and asked, and they said that is Mr. Keisker. Since then, it has been Mr. Keisker every day.
“I was surprised when I found out (Carson) is a senior in high school. He does so well with Christopher. It is amazing. Christopher doesn’t open up very easily with people, but he did with Mr. Keisker.”
Carson said he sits with Chris every day during lunch, and the two usually sit next to each other in the classroom.
Chris is not the only student Carson has connected with.
He said another kindergarten student, Alex Shepard, often holds his hand in the classroom and wants to sit with him.
“That makes my day too,” Carson said. “The other kids can get jealous.”
O’Connor said Carson has bonded with every student in her class, and a bulletin board he made for the class epitomizes those connections.
“I will always remember that special time he took with each individual kid to build and create that bulletin board,” she said. “It was about what makes you special. He would engage in a conversation with them about how they are special, and they would come up with their own adjective to describe themselves. He wrote everything down they said, and they signed their name to it. It was a class project and more than a required box to check for the program.”
Carson said he plans to attend Culver Stockton College in Canton and major in elementary special education. He said he wants to have his own special education class one day.
“He is an amazing young man, and he will go far,” O’Connor said. “I hope to come back and volunteer in his classroom someday.”