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. The most important awards were given to those who showed their best effort. The Ednamae Faurot Biology Award was given to Bethany Bowerman by Mrs. Godwin. The Joe Moreno Award was given to Brynn Saxton and Justin Rodriguez by Mrs. Biehl. The Linda Kay Shirely Award was awarded to Abrielle Dice from Mrs. Russell. Colin Kuhn received three rewards, which are the Wheeler Trophy, Stephan J. Mailand Award, and St. Louis Lions Club All-Sports. Mr. Brock presented the Valedictorian and Salutatorian awards to Landon Pestrue and Kaya Munoz. Other important awards, such as Leadership, Service, and Spirit, were given to the seniors. These seniors who received them were Colin Kuhn for Leadership, Elizabeth Starry for Service, and Bethany Bowerman for Spirit.
Starry 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. I went in there not expecting anything, and I ended up being surprised with what I got. I’d rather be surprised than disappointed.”
Additionally, another important event that was held at Saint Louis High School was called the Shark Fin awards. Not only do seniors receive rewards, teachers who’ve spent years of teaching at this school can receive “Shark Fin” awards. These awards are meant to celebrate teachers who work for the school for either five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, or 25 years. Teachers who got the five 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 T.S.N. 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, and 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. McKitrick 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.
