Triad High, Middle schools highlight multiple positives in building reports

By Editor | February 24, 2026 |

From left, Triad School Board President Jeff Hewitt, Superintendent Dr. Jason Henderson, Associate Superintendent Dr. Rodney Winslow, and other school district personnel mark the groundbreaking of the new Triad High School addition on Feb. 10. (Ray Popkess photo)

By Charles Bolinger

Editor • At Triad High School, Principal Kelli Barbour highlighted several positives during February.

“One of the many highlights of February was having our groundbreaking ceremony at THS on Feb. 10,” she wrote to the school board and Dr. Jason Henderson, superintendent for the Feb. 23 school board meeting.

“We are so excited to celebrate the upcoming Triad Center for the Performing Arts, along with a multipurpose space, the remodeling of our FCS and Art classrooms, the renovation of the CTE wing, a new band room, and the addition of four new classrooms.

“Together, these projects represent an investment in students, in programs, and in a vision that demonstrates Triad’s commitment to preparing students for both college and careers and to providing a professional setting to showcase our outstanding programs and talented students. Thank you so much to the board for their continued support of these advancements.”

On Jan. 28, she reported a State send-off for the school’s eight All-State band and choir students and the chamber choir attending the ILMEA Conference in Peoria. The chamber choir performed seven pieces of music in 26 minutes. On Feb. 12, Triad was well represented by talented musicians from the Triad High School Honor Band and Choir at the last MVC Music Festival. They spent the day rehearsing music with the other five MVC schools for their evening performance. They did a phenomenal job performing before an audience that evening in Mascoutah’s auditorium.
On Saturday, Jan. 31, the school’s Ethics Bowl Team competed at the SIUE Lyceum. Triad’s two teams finished third and fourth in the competition.
On Feb. 8, Triad’s Robotics team competed at the Ladue VEX “Push Back” Challenge. They did a great job showcasing their talents with the robots they built to compete in the games.
The Triad High School Cheer Team won first place at the IHSA Sectional, qualifying for state. They then placed fourth in the state! The school’s dance team qualified for the IDTA state competition and placed second in Jazz, fifth in Pom and sixth in their Lyrical routine.
The THS Model UN program hosted its annual TRI-MUN conference at SIUE on Feb. 11 and 12. The high school delegates facilitated the different committees for the area middle school students, including our own TMS. Many thanks to our new Spanish teacher, Mauricio Flores, for stepping up to take over the TMS sponsorship of the Model UN program, enabling their participation.
THS had its first-ever Ag Night on Feb. 6. “We had a good turnout of community members who came to learn about the program. Mr. Wiemers organized the event and Ag Explorers shared their well-organized booths with visitors. Thank you to the Madison County Farm Bureau for their donation to support the event, and to Sievers Equipment Co. for providing the tractor outside of the school. We are excited to offer Ag classes next year along with an FFA chapter.”
Triad High’s student enrollment remains at 1,204 students, including four seniors who graduated in December 2025.

At Triad Middle School, Principal Brooke Wiemers thanked everyone who donated to Ministries Unlimited.

“The band trailer was full of canned goods when it arrived at Ministries Unlimited. Thank you to the THS Student Council, who helped to sort all of the cans upon their arrival. We appreciate all of the support from the TMS students and families who participated by donating food to help those who are less fortunate. We have such a caring community full of wonderful students, parents, and staff members.”

Grade Level Totals (soup = 2 points, other canned items = 1 point)

TMS total = 3,825 points

6th Grade = 1,258 points

7th Grade = 1,476 points

8th Grade = 1,091 points

Homeroom Winners = Walter, Inda, Haselhorst. Students enjoyed Donuts or Ice Cream rewards.

Our annual TMS Spring Scholastic Book Fair will take place during the week of March 6-March 13. Students will shop during their regular library times. With the book fair quickly approaching, the middle school could use some parent volunteers to make the event as smooth and successful as possible. Please reach out to rebecca.chigas@tcusd2. We’re using SignUp to organize our upcoming Book Fair Volunteers.

Creative Writing Elective: all creative writing students submitted entries for the Young Writer’s Unsolved 2026 Writing Contest. They were challenged with writing a mystery story that had a 100-word limit, which really forced them to focus their stories and make every word count. Students are competing for 3 $50 Amazon gift cards, as well as the possibility to be published in a book of numerous contest entries.

Personal Finance Elective: students in the personal finance classes are once again doing great things: All across Illinois, students are proving their financial skills by competing in The Stock Market Game, providing a simulation of real-world investing. Students use a virtual $100,000 to invest anyway they choose using the stock market, in hopes to grow their money over the course of the semester. The top two teams at the elementary, middle school and high school levels who have the best performing investment portfolios are recognized. For the second time, Triad Middle School has been recognized as having winners in the Fall 2025 competitive Middle School division. This year we have the privilege of having the 1st place team and the 2nd place team at the state level.

Sports/Extracurricular Activities: the TMS dance team performed jazz and open pom routines at four regional competitions this season, qualifying both routines for the state competition at three of those events. At those regional competitions, three of the dancers from TMS also received Rising Star Awards. This past weekend, the team competed at the state competition in Springfield, Illinois, where they earned third in both jazz and open pom, competing against middle school dance teams from across the state.

The TMS cheerleaders finished their season competing at IESA State in Peoria last week. They received 6th place out of 26 teams in the largest 3A division. They also medaled 3rd place out of 13 teams at ICCA State and received Top 3 at all season invitationals they competed in, including a 1st place win.

The TMS boys’ basketball team won a regional at the eighth grade level, completing a very successful season by Coach Johnson and the boys.

The TMS bowling team is off to a strong start in preparation for the postseason.

The wrestling team at TMS is starting to wind down their season. Their postseason will begin at the end of the month. Coach Stuller and The team are looking forward to the IESA regionals.

The volleyball season is well underway. Coach Parker and Coach Johnson continue to see constant improvement from their athletes.

Spring Musical. Triad Middle School has a good problem on its hands. “We have approximately 140 students interested in the TMS spring musical this year, whether it’s auditioning as a cast member, being a part of the backstage crew, or set design crew,” Wiemers wrote. “We have so many kids wanting to participate, but will unfortunately have to narrow that number down. ● Our show this year is “Matilda Jr.” Mr. Douglas and I have been diligently getting all of our plans/schedules/etc. in order to hit the ground running with auditions on Feb. 23! The show will run on April 24, 25 in the THS cafetorium at 7 p.m.

5 Essential Survey. The Illinois 5 Essential Survey window recently opened. Students, staff and parents will have the opportunity to take the survey to share their experiences with Triad Middle School. Parents should use this link to access the survey. The goal is to have at least 20% of TMS parents take the survey. Teachers had time to complete surveys during our Teacher’s Institute Day last week.

Communication with Families. We are communicating with parents, students, and community members via a variety of methods, including Canvas, Facebook, Twitter, Skyward. Would you like to have access to our TMS Daily Announcements? The announcements are located under the “Daily News” section on our TMS Website. TMS Daily Announcements. Triad Middle School has 961 students enrolled as of February 2026.