Student of the month: Ashleigh Matheny

     Each month, Monticello High School nominates a student who exhibits positive behavior, as part of an initiative called PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports). The students support the school’s characteristics of Respect, Responsibility, Caring, Safety, and Integrity.

     Bullies are everywhere. But for Monticello High School freshman Ashleigh Matheny who stood up to a bully on her school bus, she is being honored as Student of the Month for her actions.

     Matheny defended a sixth grader on her bus who was being taunted by another middle school student. Matheny said the bully pushed the sixth grader’s books out of her hands.

     “I helped her pick her stuff up and told the bully to knock it off,” said Matheny.

     She said being bullied “sucks.”

     “I was bullied until I was in fifth grade,” said Matheny. “It’s not cool. It’s not right.”

     Matheny said she forged a friendship with the sixth grader on her bus because they both play percussion in their school bands.

     “She hardly knew me,” said Matheny of hearing the younger student looked up to her.

     After Matheny stuck up for the sixth grader, that student told the Middle School Band Instructor, Jill Dobel, about what took place on the bus. Word got to Matheny via the High School Band Instructor Michael Kowbel.

     “He (Mr. Kowbel) told me I was nominated,” said Matheny.

     She said since the announcement, she’s been pretty flustered.

     “This kind of thing doesn’t usually happen to me,” said Matheny.

     Just visiting with Matheny for a half hour or so, you instantly get a feel for how kind she truly is. She said helping the sixth grader was not an isolated incident.

     “I would help anybody, really,” she said. “I was raised with manners, and not many people would do that these days. I just want to make my school a better place.”

     Matheny and her family moved to Monticello from Bettendorf in December 2015. After completing middle school and starting high school in August, Matheny said there’s more freedom in high school.

     “You have more people to relate to,” she said.

     Matheny instantly took a liking to band, despite never playing an instrument in middle school. She took up playing the symbols.

     “I literally had a crash course in marching band,” she said.

     Matheny said playing the symbols is actually not as easy as it looks. “I practice a lot and just listen to the music to know when to come in.”

     Aside from band, Matheny also enjoys science and art classes. She carries her sketchbooks around school with her, anticipating some free time to sit down and draw.

     Outside of school, Matheny enjoys hanging out with her friends, going on walks, and playing guitar.

     Matheny is the daughter of LT Matheny and Shelley Ellis of Monticello.