'This is the best feeling': Matheson Park Elementary first grade class honored at NM United game

As the evening sun dipped below the stands at Isotopes Park over the weekend, Matheson Park Elementary first grade teacher Jonathon Brannon stood in the first base dugout with 12 students from his class.

Brannon, with a smile on his face, looked at his students leaning over the dugout fence and watching New Mexico United soccer players warm up ahead of Saturday night’s game.

The floor of the dugout vibrated as each of the students jumped up and down, their eyes wide and joy etched on their faces.

It was the culmination of a journey that began at the start of this school year, when Brannon joined the Matheson Park teaching staff. When he took over a class of 14 first grade students, only two of them were reading at a first grade level.

When Brannon saw that statistic, he went to his students and asked them one simple question, “Are you guys kindergarteners?”

He got a resounding “no,” which led him to challenge his students to improve their reading scores, with the looming reward of a pizza party if they could.

The students worked on learning and expanding their vocabulary, participating in reading groups, and writing and presenting book reports to their classmates.

Over the course of the school year, Brannon’s students started scoring higher and higher on reading proficiency tests. By December, 43% of this class was reading at a first grade level.

At the end of the school year, Brannon said, seven of his students were reading at a third grade level and the others were at a second grade level.

Brannon’s secret to their success?

“You show them that you love and care about them,” he said.

Not only did his students achieve the scores necessary to earn their pizza party, they also got a surprise in recognition of their hard work and achievement.

In May, Brannon and his class were visited by United player Harry Swartz, who gave them tickets to attend Saturday’s “School’s Out Night” United game.

In addition to the tickets, Brannon’s class was also invited onto the field ahead of the game to hand off the game ball to the officials.

Prior to arriving, Brannon took the students and their families to Peter Piper Pizza, making good on his promise to give them a pizza party for improving their reading scores.

Before they walked onto the field, the students stood near a tunnelleading out to the field. Above them were several of their parents, each waving and snapping photos on their phones.

Once they were given the signal, Brannon led his class onto the field and handed the game ball to the official. They took a moment to stand on the field and soak in the scene of thousands of fans cheering them.

After leaving the field and taking their seats in the community corner section of the stands, students and their parents walked up to Brannon, one by one, and thanked him for his hard work during the school year.

“He makes class really fun,” student Calliope Vasquez told the Journal.

His class was almost as fun as the United game, according to Vasquez.

Her classmate Joseph Regulus Jr. was focused on action on the field and said the players kicking the ball was his favorite part of the experience.

For their teacher however, the most memorable part of Saturday night was watching his students’ faces. Brannon, who said his class had adopted the metaphor of a rocket ship blasting off for second grade, could never have imagined them reaching the heights they did.

“To see these kids grow so much and be able to come here and enjoy this game makes it all worth it,” he said. “I never thought we would have landed here. It just makes my heart melt.”