“If you want to go forward it has to be impossible to go back.”

That was one of the points by Tricia McKale Skyles, the keynote speaker at the USD 475 General Staff Session, who  said that’s true for any change in your life.

Skyles talked about building emotional connections with students and positive relationships. “What I want people to realize is that our jobs are hard, we have a lot of content to cover, and sometimes we forget that we’re teaching students instead of just science or just social studies. So in order to keep students in the forefront we have to have really easy ways to make those quick connections.”

Skyles began her education career as a middle school teacher in Delphos, Kansas. Today she is an instruction coach with Pathways to Success, A Gear Up Project that partnered with the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning, and Topeka public schools.

She also a tie to the local area. Skyles, formerly Tricia Britt, is a 1992 graduate of Wakefield High School. Her father, Todd Britt of Wakefield, was a longtime broadcaster for KJCK Radio in Junction City. He served as KJCK AM Program Director and host of the Swap Shop program. Tricia remembers those days as a young child. She visited the radio station. “I’d watch him spin records. I think when I was five years old he made me do a commercial.”

On Friday she helped guide USD 475 employees into a new school year.