Student Recognition

For probably the last month I have had a plan for what I was going to post on my blog each day through the start of summer.  And then life happens and I fall behind.  Normally, when it is after midnight and I am writing a post, I decide to abandon it, but I have fallen behind on so many of my posts that they are long overdue.  Today's late night post is going to cover several of the student recognitions that I would have liked to have given their own post, but time isn't going to permit.

Last month 6 of my students were recognized as Students of the Month.  They included Katie Armstrong, Benton Carter, Steven Dailey, Zack DePascale, Andreas Endreson, and Hannah Fahmy.  Each of these students was selected for this recognition for the contributions they make to the Kilbourne community in the classroom or beyond.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture of the group as I was not in town during the ceremony.  Congratulations on your Student of the Month recognition!

Michael Chambers officially announced his decision to play collegiate basketball next year at the University of Northwestern Ohio.  This is a dream come true for Michael as he loves basketball and has always wanted to continue his athletic career beyond high school.  I was bummed that I couldn't attend Michael's signing ceremony last month as I was out of town.

Socratic Society has been a crazy fiasco this year.  Normally, students are inducted into the Socratic Society three times during the school year - late fall, winter and spring.  With the crazy weather we had, the first two ceremonies were cancelled and rescheduled three times and, ultimately, all of the students who were inducted into the Socratic Society for the year were honored during the ceremony on May 9th.  It made for a huge number of students being honored including: Eaman Abay, RaeAnne Adams, Aytekin Alpay, Bailey Andrews, Tanner Atha, Brandon Badowi, Kyra Baker, Maggie Baumgardner, Josh Blake, Steven Borchers, Grayson Brown, Kaitlyn Bryan, Grace Cameron, Sharah Canfield, Haley Carlson, Jessica Carroll, Hannah Chambers, Sharon Chan, Sydney Chesser, Eryn Chincheck, Jayme Chincheck, Nate Church, Claire Cox, Joe Davis, Anton Demenko, Stephen Dobronski, Baylee Doyle, Jordan Eden, Courtney Fisher, Lindsey Fisher, Abby Souder, and Micah Vincent.  These students were nominated for the socratic society based upon the way they display one or more of the Socratic principles - Scholarship, Integrity, Personal Effort, Compassion, and Lifelong Learning.  Congratulations to each of you!  (There were way too many people to make getting a group picture a realistic option which was disappointing.)

In the counseling center, we couldn't survive without the help of our dedicated Office Workers!  Students who give up their prep, options, or lunch periods to help us earn community service hours for their time and we are so thankful for the joy that they bring us as they can always make us smile.  This semester 4 of my students served as office workers - a huge thank you to Veronica Dahn (left) and Danielle Chan (right) as well as Katie DiMauro and Averi Dauphin who sadly missed the picture because they weren't able to attend the thank you party.

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the Choir Concert.  They sang beautifully (as always), but they also gave out several awards and many of my students received special recognition including: Emily Dyer, Grayson Brown, Kiam Champion, Skyla Ferguson, Steven Borchers, Alex Brothers, and Macala Dietz.  Also, during Acafellas Alex Brothers and Josh Blake had great solos and then during the Kilbourne Singers performance, Bailey Andrews performed an unbelievably amazing solo that gave me chills from start to finish.  It was a great (long) night.

I love Academic Signing Day!  This is a day that is patterned after the academic signing ceremonies where the students who have received at least $4,000 in academic, leadership, art or music scholarships are invited to participate in their own signing ceremony.  This year the event was held on Monday morning and 8 of my students participated including (Left to Right): Lauren Hedges, Addy Boyles, Gabrielle Dendinger, Alex Brothers and David Broker along with Mike Coen, Manda Cash and Danny Darby who had to leave before the ceremony was over and so I didn't get to include them in my picture.  It was so special to be able to celebrate their accomplishments and recognize them for their successes.  Congratulations to each of you and best of luck at your respective colleges!

And last, but certainly not least - congratulations to all of the students who participated in Senior Project and came back to WKHS today to share their experiences with the students and staff members.  It was awesome to see all of the great opportunities that Kilbourne students had through Senior Project.  I had hoped to try to get a group picture of all of my students who participated on senior project, but today was VERY crazy and so I wasn't able to pull it off.  However, I was a staff advisor for Jordann Dierksheide during her senior project and so I was able to get her picture.  In addition to Jordann, congratulations to Katie Armstrong, Lauren Hedges, Gabrielle Dendinger, Michelle Ding, Bryn Caswell, and Lydia DeWeese.  (I think that is all of my students who did Senior Project, although it is late and I forgot my list at school so it is entirely possible I have missed several others.)

Congratulations to all of the students who have been so successful at WKHS over the last month.  You certainly deserve to be recognized!  I am proud of you!