Page 54 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2020- Online Magazine

HONORING SENIORS

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Senior Senior Melissa Buxkemper

A Helping Hand

Along the Way

by Micha Redden

the Women’s Chamber of - a person to count on. Cheerleading
Commerce which awards was not only her passion; it has
a scholarship to a high become mine as well. But she taught
school senior every year. me that it is more important to be a
And she is a willing helper better person, not just a cheerleader,
for many other worthy inside and outside of school.
causes in and around
Slaton. One of the things Mrs. Buxkemper
taught me has changed my life for the
I had my first encounter better. I vividly remember when she
with Mrs. Buxkemper told our squad in junior high that we
hen I look back on people when I was in sixth needed to respect all people, younger
who have made an impact grade. She was the volunteer cheer or older, specifically, the lunch ladies
Won my life, without a coach at the junior high. Early on, I and custodians. I took the challenge,
doubt, Melissa Buxkemper is the noticed how much love she had for making sure to say, “Hello, how are
woman I think of. Although we aren’t the sport and the children. She was you?” or “Thank you; have a nice
related, Mrs. Buxkemper is very close a phenomenal coach, working days day!” to as many people as I could. If
to my heart. This is the woman I will and nights to make sure our school there was some trash on the ground,
strive to be like in many ways as she was well-represented. Excellence in I tried to make the effort to pick it up.
is the most determined, most devoted conduct and appearance on and off I will carry that habit with me long
lady I know. the field was her ambition for us, after graduation. Mrs. Buxkemper
not only in our skills but also our helped me not only with school
Melissa is the daughter of Marlee attitudes. “Practice makes better” are activities, but her guidance really has
and Sara Holloman. She has lived words Mrs. Buxkemper was fond of taught me how to be a kinder person.
all her life in Slaton, where she saying.
continues to transform the lives of Melissa lost two very close classmates
people in our community by her And she practices what she preaches in a car wreck in 1967 when she
devotion to helping others. She as she steadily strives to be the best was in the eighth grade. She lost her
volunteers in multiple activities, like she can be. It seems she would do mother when she was 20. Those two
anything for anyone if they needed tragedies have led her to live her life

54 Lubbock Senior Link