Stevenson High School does a terrific job at recognizing student accomplishment. Our Students achieve academically and we take the time to recognize their efforts with our honor roll. Our students excel athletically, and we recognize their achievements with ceremonies such as Honors & Awards Nights, Senior Awards Night & the Night of Champions. Our students excel in their volunteer service and leadership efforts and we recognize them through Jefferson awards. The Prominent Patriot Award recognizes exemplarily behavior in students who demonstrate what it means to be a good citizen by presenting strong social emotional competencies.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in another person's shoes? Everyone's life is different and sometimes we need to take a moment to listen to other people's journeys in order to gain some perspective. This past semester, there were several students who courageously did just that - they shared their stories with students in Health Classes and Sociology classes so their peers can gain empathy, respect for others and appreciate difference and diversity. These students volunteered to participate on a panel, share relevant information about their lives that impacted them, discussed support groups and services available here at school, and answered students’ questions. The feedback from the students in the audience has been overwhelmingly positive and for some students, life changing. Audience members greatly appreciated the opportunity to hear about not only possible struggles their peers face, but also how resilient they are in overcoming them. It is because of their courage and their willingness to help broaden the understanding of their peers that we would like to recognize Evan Davis, Alissa Longsworth, Jaden Gross, Karime Jimenez, Ria Christie, Amanda Brown, Samara Smith, Haley Green, Lauren Wilson, Ammar Khan, Linda Xue, Paola Guerrero-Toledo, Alondra Lepe, Nicole Montoya, Roger Martinez, Martin Rasheed, Gabriel Lobo, Krystal Fickensheer, Caitlyn Silver-Sullivan, Allison Phillips, and Patty Mercado. Nominated by Janet Sushinski, Sherry Smith, Chris Salituro and Melissa Fainman.
Spring 2013
One day, a student found a wallet in the boy's bathroom. The wallet had a clip on the back with a large sum of money that was very visible. This student was honest enough to bring the wallet to the office and turn it in without hesitation. While I have never met this student before, it is my honor to recognize him for his honesty and his consideration of his peer’s loss. He truly demonstrated what it means to be a responsible citizen. It is because of his ability to put himself in the shoes of the student who had misplaced something so important and recognize the significance of getting it back to them intact that we would like to honor Eric Guterzon with the Prominent Patriot Award. Nominated by Jacqueline Gray.
Spring 2013
These students consisting of members from the Tri-M Music Honor Society, the Students Helping Soldiers club as well as tech and stage management support came together in order to plan The Heart of a Marine Benefit Concert. With their efforts the concert was a complete success, raising over $2600 for The Heart of a Marine Foundation. Because of these students ability to recognize the greater need in their community outside of Stevenson High School, and to work collaboratively towards a common goal, we would like to honor Chang Yoon Doh, Julia Bever, and Janet Cheng with the Prominent Patriot Award. Nominated by Stephanie Bush, Kirstin Snelten and Dino Moran.
Spring 2013
Despite her season ending injury, this student has become an amazing resource for our varsity lacrosse team this year. She showed up to every 6am workout to participate (when possible) and motivate her teammates. She has taken on the role of working closely with the program goalies to push them to a new level through working with me and the other coaches as well as conducting her own research on the position. She consistently displays a positive attitude in front of her team while demonstrating amazing leadership qualities for her age and has clearly impacted her teammates as evidenced by her nomination as a captain this year. It is because of her huge heart, positive attitude, tenacity towards success, care for others and ability to overcome setbacks by moving forward past the obstacles life sets in front of us that we would like to recognize Emily Okmin with the prominent patriot award. Nominated by Sarah Walker.
Spring 2013
The Stevenson High Physical Welfare Division offers one of the top Aquatics Programs in Illinois if not the USA. The quality of the program is made possible due to the dedicated efforts of its Pool Leaders that are American Red Cross Water Safety Instructors. Most of the Pool Leaders serve one period a day as an academic class. These students were the exceptions to the rule. These students came in and taught our freshman during their assigned periods and also taught for one or two additional periods. Without these students we would have not been able to offer such an outstanding experience to our students. For their dedication to the school in helping to continually offer top notch programming we would like to recognize the following students with the prominent patriot award: Meaghan Newell, Jessica Karluk, Valerie Gutmann, Alana Svyatsky, Jeff Olson, Nikki Evans, Joshua Gerber, Mitch Zeal, Madison Friedman and Derik Aasen. Nominated by John Schauble and Janie Calderazzo.
Spring 2013
These students lead the Print Media classes in printing 850 t-shirts for Basketball fans to wear to the State Finals game for a white out. One came in at 7:30 am on a late arrival day to print and during that time, the other drove over to Palatine to pick up more shirts for us from his screen-printing business. After the basketball team won the Semi Finals, these students came into Stevenson Saturday morning to print 150 more t-shirts for the Black Out at Saturday's Championship game. Because of their commitment to creating a supportive school culture for all members of the Stevenson community, we would like to recognize Jeff Staten and Gavin Hornak with the prominent patriot award. Nominated by Kelly Smith.
Spring 2013
On a Friday night, March 15, this student took the stage in a major role in the winter play, Argonautika with only a few hours notice due to an illness in the cast. The role she took on is a blind character, so she decided she would NOT use a script. She was nearly word for word. Audience members did not know which character was played by our "stand-in" as she was and is truly a stand-out! Furthermore, the first words out of her mouth when I told her that she "needed" to do this for the cast was, "is he OK?" referring to the ill cast mate. This reflects her selflessness. Because of her willingness to step up at a moment’s notice to ensure that the show would go on, and for her concern for her peer, we would like to recognize Katia Podtynov with the prominent patriot award. Nominated by Cindy Lynch.
Spring 2013
While walking through the glass commons during passing period, this student noticed a fellow student's backpack open up and all of his papers spilled to the ground. Without hesitation, she stopped, bent down in the crowd and helped gather together all of the student's belongings. This gesture reflects the actions of true citizenship and a culture of caring that we strive for here at Stevenson. Because of her willingness to assist a peer in their time of need, we would like to recognize Shubhangi Joshi with the prominent patriot award. Nominated by Michelle Goldstein.
Spring 2013
These students are the perfect example of what it means to be an Alternative P.E. Leader. They have embraced their role as a leader and mentor for the students enrolled in Alternative P.E. They both are exemplary student leaders and take their roles very seriously. She is extremely patient and kind, she is always the ""mom"" negotiator for the girls in class; she keeps the peace, keeps the drama down, always remains calm and always has an incredible voice of reason for the kids in class especially the girls. He is the class leader of all of our activities. He is always the class favorite and whom all the kids want on their team for any game we play. He is patient and stern, being there for the kids when they need something but he is fair in any judgments. He challenges the kids to work and play hard each and everyday. They make such a difference everyday with my 5th hour class it is incredible and we would not have the level of success we enjoy without them. Because of their leadership we would like to recognize Dena Franchi and Josh Greenberg with the prominent patriot award. Nominated by Scott Sommers.
Spring 2013
These students are a select group of FMP Leaders who work with faculty and staff members to help plan and teach the FMP Leaders how to implement the activities for the A World of Difference program that are presented in the weeks prior to the freshmen AWOD workshops. These students volunteer their time, they attend weekly meetings, and help figure out the best way to get the message across to every student. They are role models to the freshmen, but also to the freshmen mentors making these students, "Leaders among Leaders". These students "walk the walk", demonstrating the values of acceptance and concern for all students. These students have had a positive impact on Stevenson community. Because of their efforts in implementing a tremendous program for the entire freshmen class we would like to recognize the following students with the prominent patriot award. Ishita Bhama, Alissa Borowsky, Janet Cheng, Jayne Chorpash, John Cordes, Emily Kaplan, Sarina Jain, Sammi Roth, Hannah Schlacter, Michael Brown, Madeline Franke, Matt Giddens, Allison Jensen, Dana Morgan, Nick Motta, Dylan Projansky, Julia Smith, and Monica Wilner. Nominated by Nancy Eberhardt and Sherry Smith.
Spring 2013
Best Buddies needed a DJ for our Barn Dance at Stevenson. It was our first Best Buddies dance and we had invited Libertyville High School as well as others and really wanted to host a great event for all the schools. Unfortunately, our budget did not permit us to hire a Dj for the event.
Ross Bessinger, however, recognized the need within the group and the positive impact an event like this would have and he decided to Dj the dance for us free of charge. He had our buddy pairs dancing throughout the night accommodating many different music tastes from Disney to Hip Hop. All of our students and Libertyville's students left with smiles. Without Ross, we would not have been able to pull off this event. Thanks to Ross, our Buddies felt like they had a dance that was truly just for them and was also at the same high caliber of our larger whole school events. For his high degree of social awareness in recognizing the needs of his fellow classmates, and his selfless decision to provide his services to the Best Buddies Club, we would like to honor Ross Bessinger with a Prominent Patriot Award. Nominated by Deanna Warkins.
Fall 2012
One day, a student found a wallet in the boy's bathroom. The wallet had a large sum of money that was very visible. This student was honest enough to bring the wallet to the office and turn it in without hesitation. While I have never met this student before, it is my honor to recognize him for his honesty and his consideration of his peer’s loss. He truly demonstrated what it means to be a responsible citizen. It is because of his ability to put himself in the shoes of the student who had misplaced something so important and recognize the significance of getting it back to them intact that we would like to honor Eric Guterzon with the Prominent Patriot Award. Nominated by Jacqueline Gray.
Fall 2012
These students, consisting of members from the Tri-M Music Honor Society, the Students Helping Soldiers club as well as tech and stage management support, came together in order to plan The Heart of a Marine Benefit Concert. With their efforts the concert was a complete success, raising over $2600 for The Heart of a Marine Foundation. Because of these students ability to recognize the greater need in their community outside of Stevenson High School, and to work collaboratively towards a common goal, we would like to honor these students with the Prominent Patriot Award: Georgia Norfleet, Chang Yoon Doh, Devin Stalker, Julia Bever, Janet Cheng, Liz Gorelick, Emily Okmin, Katie Donnowitz, Matt Giddens, Ross Bessinger and Dave Wood. Nominated by Dino Moran, Stephanie Bush, and Kirsten Snelton.
Fall 2012
This student is a valuable asset to the ILC, and he has been volunteering in the ILC since September. By September, the ILC had already hired all of its student workers, however, this student decided not to work for pay and is volunteering his time. He helps us keep the iPads and laptops clean and in working order to ensure that other students have a good product to use when learning in the ILC. Often, the circulation desk is too busy during the day for one of our staff to maintain and upkeep the equipment. Since he began working with us, this student has become an integral part of our department. Each day he seeks extra work. He is self-motivated and takes his job very seriously. This student has grown into an outgoing, consistent, and valuable worker. He has made friends and all the ILC staff note his positive outlook. Because of his steadfast diligence and selfless dedication to maintaining a wonderful experience for all students who learn at the ILC, we would like to honor Ryan Burrows with the Prominent Patriot Award. Nominated by Lisa Dettling.
Fall 2012
This student is a smart, responsible, caring and respectful young man. He brought treats to the company members during tech rehearsal to wish them well before the Winter Dance Concert. Furthermore, he also organized the creation of a get-well card for our 4th hour to sign for a peer who was injured and out of class for an extended period of time. He also created the best Halloween costume! It is because of his tireless efforts to make his community a warm and welcoming place for his peers that we would like to honor Kyle Mueting with the Prominent Patriot Award. Nominated by Melinda Cringlar.
Fall 2012
During the October Common Institute day, over 80 fine arts teachers had a professional development session with renowned choreographer, educator, and writer Liz Lerman. During the workshop, teachers worked to enhance the feedback process, develop critical thinking, and social emotional learning. The following Concert Dance students volunteered by coming in on a day off of school to participate by performing a piece of choreography for the teacher and participate in the feedback session with the faculty. The day was a huge success and thanks to the student participants helped make the day more meaningful for the faculty participating in the event. Because of their contributions to the continued learning of the Stevenson faculty, we would like to honor Laura Biernacki, Nathan Carter, Margaret Guetzloff, Carly Riederman, and Jordan Ryder with the Prominent Patriot Award. Nominated by Jon Grice and Tiffany VanCleaf.
Fall 2012
During the Kayak Unit in Adventure Ed class, a student, a low level swimmer with a life vest on, was taking a risk and kayaking in the deep end. Suddenly his kayak flipped over and the student was trapped under the boat. Being a low level swimmer, even with the vest on, the student panicked, causing him to not be able to get out from under the kayak. This student jumped into the water from her lifeguard chair, which is a pretty high jump, and immediately rescued the student from under the kayak; safely bringing him to the side of the pool. Once they reached the side of the pool, this student made sure the student was ok and reassured him he did just fine and that she just helped a little. For her ability to keep calm and collected under pressure and her diligence in ensuring the safety of her peers, we would like to recognize Rebecca Callen with the Prominent Patriot Award. Nominated by Jane Klewin and John Schauble.
Fall 2012