The Evening of Excellence took place May 7 in the St. Louis High School Cafeteria. This was held to honor the seniors as they finished their school year.
Seniors are mainly the spotlight of this ceremony. They gain awards based on their academic achievements, sport achievements, and clubs that they participated in. Students who received academic awards are Bethany Bowerman, Annabelle Breen, Elizabeth Burt, Zoey Clarke, Lauren Devine, Colin Kuhn, Kaya Munoz, Landon Pestrue, Rebekah Ross, Elizabeth Starry, and Kerregan Wilson. Seniors also who are in the Top 10 also gain awards. Students who received service rewards and beyond are the same listed above, as well as Hannah Brandon, William Campbell, Elliot Carter, Landen Delong, Abrielle Dice, Amelia Dill, Kaden Faw.
Starry received academic and services rewards. She stated, “I was very appreciative of the awards I achieved. I have worked hard to get involved in the community. Not only then was it rewarding, but Evening of Excellence refined that idea. There weren’t any certificates that I didn’t get or that I wanted. I went in there not expecting anything, and I ended up being surprised with what I got. I’d rather be surprised than disappointed.”
Evening of Excellence happens every year with each graduating class receiving rewards. Not only do seniors receive rewards, teachers who spent years of teaching at this school can receive “Shark Fin” awards. These “Shark Fin” awards are meant to celebrate teachers who work for the school for either 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, or 25 years. Teachers who got the 5 year service award are Alura Ockert and Joanne Devine from the Nikkari school, and Jordan Miller from the High School. The 10 years awards were offered to Rachel McCarver and Jessica Plont from Nikkari, and the TSN Clerk Kristi Bebow. The 15 years of service award went to one person only, which is Sheri Brecht as the Nikkart Administrative Assistant. The 20 years of service was given to Kevin Kuhn. The 25 years of service were offered to Steve Lawhorne, Jen Ruble and Kim Sandel from the Nikkari school, with Paul Beavers and Theresa Vance.
Mr. Maxwell’s Sharktooth woodshop made custom fins for the current teachers who gained the honor of receiving these trophies. According to Mr. Maxwell, “It was originally started with Mrs. McKittrick and honoring all the services she made during her years at St. Louis. That’s when it first started, and I actually had a friend create those for us and then we got the equipment for the woodshop. When she became superintendent, it turned into the entire public school system in St. Louis, getting service orders. We have been doing this long enough that we usually don’t encounter any problems. We also got new equipment to help this.”
Although these seniors are graduating near the end of the school year, they will participate in a final assembly, known as the Moving On Up assembly, where they will share their final moments with each other and the underclassmen.
