Alexis high school graduation

TLDR; Our middle child Alexis graduated from Berkner High School in Richardson ISD, and she’s headed off to college soon!

(For a bit more context about why Berkner High School looms large in our family history, see this previous entry about Isaac’s graduation from Berkner HS in 2021: Isaac graduates high school.)

Meanwhile, in 2016

In 2016, Alexis had just finished 5th grade in Mesquite ISD. Done with elementary school, she was ready to start middle school.

This was a year after I left teaching to pursue software development. That summer, we sold our house in the outskirts of the DFW Metroplex and moved back to the Berkner HS attendance zone.

Now that we were back in the Richardson ISD, Alexis re-entered elementary school as a 6th grader. She did a great job making it work in a new school with a new teacher and friends. I bet she was the only kid who had “graduated” from elementary school already.

That year saw Alexis join the band program, choosing bassoon as her instrument. She rocked on french horn during the audition process, but the call of the bassoon was too strong to resist!

JH and HS Years

Alexis made friends in the double reed section, and she started taking private lessons with the cluster’s bassoon teacher. Ironically, her private teacher Mr. Morris used to be musician in the Berkner HS percussion section (front ensemble) when I was teaching there in the 2002-03 school year. It was really cool to see the music circle of life continue like that. Alexis also enjoyed many of her JH teachers and the Robotics and Theater classes at Apollo.

Along the same lines, most of the fantastic band directors at Apollo JH and Berkner HS were former co-workers of mine from my time at Berkner. It was an honor to have these wonderful educators and humans teach my daughter and help her grow as a musician and a person.

Alexis excelled at bassoon, many times earning a chair in All-Region band and even taping for the All-State band later in high school.

In the fall of 2019, Alexis joined Isaac in the Berkner band. The two kids traveled to Chicago with the Berkner Symphonic I band in December 2019 for a performance at The Midwest Clinic. Some songs on their program required contrabassoon, so Alexis added another (HUGE) instrument to her arsenal. Melissa, Olivia, and I traveled up to Chicago to watch the band perform in person. It was a great trip full of cold wind, incredible pizza, and amazing music.

The Covid-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, and Alexis finished her freshman year of high school online. The next year they did modified in-person learning. The band students could attend band classes, with big gaps in the seating arrangement and masks on when not playing wind instruments. It was a strange time. I remain in awe of the Fine Arts staff at Berkner HS and Richardson ISD for making opportunities for the students to perform and grow as musicians during that time.

Alexis started taking art classes in high school. She enjoyed the teachers and the work. We found her often sitting on the couch sketching on paper or on her iPad. Like my mom, her Grandma Mathew, Alexis has a gift for art!

Off to College

Alexis graduated 30th in her class. 🎉 She was a member of the Berkner Band and Academic Decathlon team. We’re so proud of her accomplishments and the person she has become!

In our family, she plays the role of the “middle child” well. She’s a peacemaker and diplomat, often helping resolve conflicts between family members. She’s also a great big sister to Olivia, who loves to spend time with her sissy.

Alexis plans on attending the University of North Texas in the fall, like her brother. She is planning on majoring in music and visual art at UNT, with a possible extension into animation after the undergraduate years. We are excited to see where this next chapter of her life leads!

Side note: our youngest child Olivia now thinks she is required to attend UNT, too!

Written by Mike Mathew who lives and works in Dallas building useful things. Sometimes he posts on Mastodon. Mike also wears many hats at Presto Assistant where he is a co-founder, owner, and product engineer.