St. Joseph-Ogden third quarter Honor Roll

ST. JOSEPH - Last month, St. Joseph-Ogden High School announced the recipients of the third quarter Honor Roll and High Honor Roll. To be recognized on the Honor Roll at SJO, students must achieve a grade point average (GPA) of 3.25 or higher on a 4.0 scale. Those with a GPA exceeding 3.74 are honored as High Honor Roll students.

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Freshman Honor Roll

Miles Atwood
Coleton Beckett
Evan Brown
Liam Carter
Hunter Cler
Caleb Courter
Emily Cross
Hunter Dilley
Casen Goff
George Hale
Leigha Larson
Gavin Little
Maddyx Martin
Pete Martin
Aubrey Matheny
Aiden McBride
Atleigh Miller
Hannah Nirider
Alyssa Osterbur
Lyla Patton
Leah Pruitt
Averie Puckett
Gage Ramm
Mitch Riesel
Keegan Roberts
Samantha Ryan
Marissa Smith
Addisyn Son
Dalton Trotter
Hunter Uher
Logan Umbarger
Zoe Valentine
Addison Walsh
Benjamin Wells
Sorena Welsh

Sophomore Honor Roll

Yadiel Acosta-Reyes
Samuel Albrecht
Andrew Bourland
Alec Bowlin
Willis Canamore
Jaxson Colvin
Nickolas Ditchfield
Justin Downs
Audrie Helfrich
Morgan Huls
Faith Jackson
Waylon Jones
Garrett Loschen
Tripp Palmer
Peighton Reim
William Ricketts-Royer
Lilly Sollars
Alex Vaughn
Cameron Wagner
Shelby Warns
Kaden Wedig
Cameron Wright

Junior Honor Roll

Trevor Ames
Shelby Campbell
Jacob Carlson
Cade Crozier
Caleb Dwyer
Justice Heidel
Bryanna Hood
Bryson Houchens
Amelia Huckstadt
Malachy Kates
Kylan Kincaid
Vance McComas
Emma McKinney
Garrick Page
Graham Ray
Lance Retz
Ethan Sanders
Landon Smith
Lucas Smith
Quinn Stahl
Lucas Truong
Emma Wells

Senior Honor Roll

Alex Acosta-Reyes
Jared Altenbaumer
Rylie Barton
Audrey Benoit
William Besson
Eli Birt
Macie Blakley
Landen Butts
Madison Clampitt
Hayden Coffey
Joshua Courter
Aerolyn Davenport
Lauren Dewese
Savanna Dittman
Nolan Earley
Lyla Frerichs
Joe Griebat
Mason Guido
Brodie Harms
Kendrick Johnson
Quincy Jones
Aiden Krall
Gabriel Mata
Logan Patton
Haley Rudolph
Samuel Shonkwiler
Corbin Smith
Thea Smith
Collin Thomey
Carter Turner
Reese Wheatley
Isabelle Wiese
Ava Worley
Merial Yeager

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Unity first semester Honor Roll students recognized

The students named below earned recognition for their academic performance and attention to excellence at Unity High School. Congratulations to each on their exceptional scholastic effort in the first semester.

Seniors ~

High Honor: Lindy Bates; Molly Baxley; Kolton Black; Paige Brewer; Noah Bryant; Elle Cheely; Madelyn Darnall; Jordan Daugherty; Frankie Davis; Emily Decker; Ashlyn Denney; Estella Dodd; Kade Dubson; Hunter Eastin; Catharine Ford; Paige Garretson; Kadence Goff; Sophia Hartke; Lauren Hellmer; Caleb Hoewing; Dallas Hollingsworth; Wyatt Huffstutler; Alex Mowrer; Brady Parr; Riley Petkus; Camryn Reedy; Rylee Reifsteck; Nolan Remole; Ashley Rennels; Lydia Rossi; Maegan Rothe; Savanna Sellers; Lauren Shaw; Tsihon Shotton; Daniel Stein; Joseph Tempel; Avery Watson; Gavin Weaver; McKinley Weller; Tessah Williams; Nolan Wishall; and Logan Zumbahlen.

Honor: Jenna Adkins; Avery Alagna; Emmerson Bailey; Sophia Beckett; Brianna Blakley; Holden Brazelton; Michael Bromley; Bentten Cain; Keegan Cenzano, Josephine Cler; Ava Davis; Jaden Dene; Chloey Duitsman; Piper Farney; Ava Fenter; Sophia Frye; Alexis Gady; Faith Hall; McKenzie Hart; Kaden Inman; Andrew King; Gracie Meharry; Makayla Nonman; Mary OBryan; Ryan Pickett; Rami Ramahi; Garrett Richardson; Ryan Rink; Ryan Robinson; Braden Roderick; Brock Schlittler; and Grant Steinman.

Juniors ~

High Honor: Anna Amias; Aria Battaglia; Mylie Castle; Cameryn Cobb; Kaylee Cooke; Chloe Cousins; Eli Crowe; Ella Darnall; Callie Ellars; Camden Fairbanks; Margaret Garcier; Isabel Grob; Kenley Harris; Caden Hensch; Lucas Hood; Jaxon Jett; Miles Johnson; Cameron Kaiser; Faith Lampe; Kallista Lancaster; Mylie Loftsgaard; Claire Meharry; Deakin Moore; Isaac Neverman; Brody Osterbur; Harry Polonus; Dallas Porter; Mackenzie Pound; Katie Ruggieri; Vanna Schriefer; Hunter Shike; Annalise Shunk; Shelby Smith; Caden Stierwalt; Ginna Stierwalt; Madelyn Stierwalt; Emma Swisher; Carter Tiemann; Bailey Tompkins; Evan Vlahovich; and Lucille Wiesbrook.

Honor: Ryan Akers; Maddix Buchanan; Savanna Cruz; Natalia Cunningham; Abram Davidson; Shyenne Eaton; Crewe Eckstein; Olivia Egelston; Dane Eisenmenger; Tanner Gallivan; Collin Graven; Brayden Henry; Tyler Henry; Sophia Hewerdine; Logan Jeurissen; Anna Kuhns; Johanna Langley; Maxwell McCabe; Phoenix Molina; Mason ONeill; Analea Popovics; Andrew Ray; Ty Rodems; Jillian Schlittler; Kamden Schuckman; Liana Sheets-Cowan; Anna Vasey; Alexander Wells; Paula Wilson; Shelby Zoch; and Claire Zorns.

Sophomores ~

High Honor: Dominic Baxley; Alex Bromley; Clare Bryant; Caleb Coy; Braedyn Dalton; Lillian Daly, Addison Davis; Danika Eisenmenger; Allison Fenter; Reese Frye; Journey Gabbard; Bailee Gadeken; Olivia Hall; Colton Harmon; Avery Kamradt; Kathryn Knoll; Cash McCann; Landrey Mohr; Emily Osterbur; Adam Reedy; Ethan Schaefer; Allyson Shaw; Isaac Siegwald; Evalyn Skibbe; Piper Staley; Grace Tempel; Leah Watson; Elizabeth Wayne; Grace Wherley; Rylan Wolf; Addison Wyatt; and Kendal Zerrusen.

Honor: Juan Acosta Toro; Grace Bickers; Wyatt Blanchard; Paige Bradley; Emma Carrington; Cadence Chandler; Noah Conde; Hudson DeHart; Austin Drewes; Aidan Ellis; Elizabeth Farney; Natalie Haas; Walker Hall; Everest Harper; Dustin Harris; Broderick Irwin; Hailey Keck; Rush Little; Audrey McDaniel; Nicholas Montgomery; Brooklyn Mumm; Miles Owens; Sadie Polonus; Evan Puckett; Max Rossi; Gabrielle Spanglo; Jacob Ward; and Maggie Weckle.

Freshmen ~

High Honor: Patrick Baxley; Beckam Brown; Sadie Carpenter; Jackson Cheely; Soren Davis; Andrew Donovan; Tessa Durham; Tyson Durham; Cecelia Easter; Dillon Ellars; Kaylee Estes; Carson Fairbanks; Reagan Fisher; Jordan Harmon; Roman Hastings; Noah Hettinger; Tessa Horn; Karleigh Jamison; Lincoln Johnson; Joseph Kamradt; Khison Kern; Tatum Kirby; Bryan Kleiss; Izabella Mallast; Nolan Meharry; Dalton Moose; Rhianna Ocasio; Caleb Saxon; Carter Schmid; Caleb Siegwald; Kole VanSickle; Gavin Warren; Sawyer Weller; Logan Wells; Haley White; John White; Austin Wiersema; Elsie Wiesbrook; Adilynn Wilson; Olivia Witheft; and Cole Zorns.

Honor: Cameron Barnes; Cooper Beckett; Beckham Brink; Brilynn Cain; Madison Castor; Skyler Chilton; Danika Dhom; Kinzey Duitsman; Haley Ennis; Cohen Fincham; Shae Lin Fournier; Makayla Goff; Hallie Handal; Brady Harris; Joel Hoewing; Kane Knudsen; Clint McCormick; Payten Niles; Kandace Reed; Mia Reifsteck; Caden Rogers; Sophia Seidlitz; Ian Skibbe; Ava Sommer; and Olivia Williams.

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Unity claims another cross country regional title, Rockets positioned to make it a four-peat at state

Unity shocks St. Joseph-Ogden with dominant defense, advances to quarterfinal round

Unity football coach announces retirement after 31 seasons

Team effort fuels Unity's 15-point win over Paris

Despite team-wide scoring effort, too many turnovers sink Rockets in home loss to visiting Pioneers

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St. Joseph-Ogden parent-teacher conferences coming up

ST. JOSEPH - Instructors at St. Joseph-Ogden High School will hold Parent-Teacher Conferences on Thursday, October 24 from 3-5 p.m. and from 6-9 p.m.

Parents are encourage to contact the high school to make appointments with their student's teachers and guidance counselor either by email or phone on or before October 22.

SJO students will received their first quarter grades on Monday, October 21.

A Parent-Teacher Conference is an opportunity to discuss a student's academic performance as well as objectives for remaining quarters with their teachers.

To schedule an appointment by email, contact Nicki Falls at fallsn@sjo.k12.il.us or call (217) 469-7321.

ASSE seeking host families for international high school students

Hosting a high school international student is a popular way to learn about other cultures and create lasting bonds with people from other parts of the world.

Photo: Hillary Fox/PEXELS

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WAYZATA, MN - ASSE International Student Exchange Programs (ASSE) is looking for local families to host high school exchange students aged 15 to 18 from Australia, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Japan, and other countries.

If you are a young family, retired, a single parent, or an empty-nester, hosting an international exchange student is a chance to expand your cultural horizons without leaving the comfort of your home. Hosting international students offers a unique cultural exchange where as the host you can learn more about a particular culture, their traditions, and everyday way of life. This exposure promotes a better understanding and deeper appreciation for ways of life that differ from our own. Thanks to daily interactions and conversations, both the student and host gain valuable insights into different perspectives, customs, and languages.

Another reason to host international students is that it facilitates personal growth and development.

For the host family, it offers an opportunity to expand their worldview, enhance communication skills, and develop empathy and intercultural competence. For the students, living abroad provides an opportunity to step out of their comfort zone, adapt to new environments, and build resilience and independence. They can also improve their language skills and develop a deeper understanding of issues that affect both cultures.

Some families become serial hosts, enjoying lasting friendships and the connections formed that extend beyond the hosting period.

William Fortunato

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Generally, the host and student forge meaningful relationships built on shared experiences and mutual respect. These connections can transcend geographical boundaries and last a lifetime, providing opportunities for future collaborations, visits, and cultural exchanges.

"I was so excited to see my host family and get to know them. I’m sure they were too. I call my host parents 'mom' and 'dad,' and you know, it does make us feel as a family," said Dilrabo Sultanmuratova, a student from Kazakhstan. "I’m very lucky to have such an awesome host family. They consider me like their real daughter; we have a very good relationship with each other. We have so many good memories together."

ASSE students arrive with their own spending money and comprehensive insurance coverage. Each student is carefully selected based on their academic achievements and personality for placement.

Hosting an international student can be a life-changing experience. Brian Miller, a veteran whose son fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, admitted that 9/11, along with his son's experiences while deployed, largely contributed to his view of Middle Eastern culture.

"I wouldn't say hate or racist, I would say dislike of the Muslim community," Miller said.

"Once we got Ali in the home, I got to learn a lot and he enlightened me to quite a few things," Miller said. Over time and conversations, Ali and the Shirkieville, IN family became "virtually inseparable" thanks to the YES Scholarship Program started by Richard Lugar and Ted Kennedy after 9/11.

After hosting Ali in 2013, Miller said his perspective on the Muslim culture changed.

To learn how you can become an ASSE Host Family, contact the ASSE Midwestern Regional Office at 1-800-736-1760 or visit www.host.asse.com.

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Teens don’t know everything − and those who acknowledge that fact are more eager to learn

by Tenelle Porter
Rowan University

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Photo: Kenny Eliason/Unsplash

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If you, like me, grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, you may have come across the classic refrigerator magnet, “Teenagers, leave home now while you still know everything.”

Perhaps you know a teen, or maybe you were a teen, like this: pop-star energy, a little too confident in your opinions, a little too certain that no one could know what you know. Adolescence is the period of life when people transform from children into adults. To handle the transition successfully, people need to shed parental dependencies and become more autonomous and independent. So it makes sense that teens think – or at least act like – they know everything.

I’m a scholar of how people, at any stage of life, handle the fact that they do not actually know everything.

My research has examined what happens to young people who, amid the emotional, social and hormonal storms of adolescence, find themselves relatively willing to acknowledge that their knowledge and perspective are actually limited. This is an attribute scholars like me call “intellectual humility,” which describes a person’s recognition that there are gaps in what they know and that those gaps make their beliefs and opinions fallible.

My colleagues and I wondered whether anything was different about teens who recognize this fallibility – who are intellectually humble – and those who don’t. We really weren’t sure, because the answer is not obvious. On one hand, being aware of their own ignorance and fallibility might be an asset for teenagers by making them more teachable and open-minded, and perhaps even more likable. On the other hand, perhaps awareness of their ignorance could be so overwhelming that it makes them feel defeated and helpless, essentially shooting young people in the foot before they have even gotten off the starting line of their adult life.

We wondered whether, and to what extent, intellectual humility is beneficial for youth and to what extent it might actually be harmful.

Anticipating failure

In a series of studies that collectively enrolled over 1,000 participants, high school students rated themselves on the degree to which they agreed with statements like “I acknowledge when someone knows more than me about a subject” and “I question my own opinions, positions and viewpoints because they could be wrong” as indicators of intellectual humility.

We then asked students to imagine that they had failed a quiz in a new class and, critically, what they would do next. Students rated a series of possible responses to this setback, including more mastery-oriented responses, such as “study harder next time,” and more helpless responses, such as “avoid this subject in the future.”

The students who had rated higher in intellectual humility more strongly endorsed the mastery responses, showing that the intellectually humbler they were, the more they said they would try to learn the difficult material. The students’ degree of intellectual humility did not coincide with their helplessness ratings. In other words, the intellectually humbler students were not more defeated and helpless. Rather, they were more interested in improving.

Photo: Taylor Flowe/Unsplash

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Actually encountering failure

We wanted to know more, especially whether students’ hypothetical behavior would be the same as their actual behavior. Our next two studies addressed this question.

One study had three phases. We started by measuring adolescents’ intellectual humility with a self-reporting questionnaire like the one we’d used before.

Then we returned to their classrooms months after the questionnaire, on a day when the teacher returned an actual, graded unit test. As students saw their test feedback and grades, we asked them to rate different options for what they might do to prepare for the next test.

The intellectually humbler students endorsed items like “try to figure out things that confuse me” and “ask myself questions to make sure I understand the material” more strongly than the less intellectually humble students, regardless of whether they performed well or poorly on the test.

For the last phase of this study, we waited until the end of the school year and asked the teacher – who did not know students’ intellectual humility scores – to rate each student’s eagerness to learn. According to the teacher’s ratings, the intellectually humbler students took on learning with more gusto.

In the other study, with another group of students, we again gave them the questionnaire on intellectual humility. Then we asked them to complete a challenging puzzle that tapped into their actual persistence and challenge-seeking behavior.

The intellectually humbler students preferred challenging puzzles more than easy ones that they already knew how to do, spent longer trying to solve the challenging puzzles and made more attempts at solving puzzles even after they had failed than their less humble peers.

The role of mindset

Collectively, those studies gave us additional confidence that intellectually humbler students were more teachable and willing to work harder than their more defensive, less humble peers – not only by their own accounts but also according to a teacher and as measured by an actual behavioral task.

But we didn’t know whether the intellectual humility caused that openness to learning. We wanted to know if encouraging students to be more intellectually humble would actually make students more focused on learning and mastery and less likely to throw up their hands and surrender in the face of a challenge.

So we randomly assigned participants to read one of two articles, one about the benefits of being intellectually humble, the other about the benefits of being highly certain. These articles looked like they had been written for a popular media outlet, but they were actually written by us.

As a cover story, we asked for participants’ feedback on the article: Was it intelligible? Could a young person understand it? What was the main idea?

Next, we asked participants to do a second, ostensibly unrelated activity. We asked them to imagine specific objects and rotate them in their minds’ eyes. These were tricky problems, taken from dental school admissions exams, aimed at determining a person’s spatial visualization skills.

After they finished the problems, we told participants they had done well on some questions and failed others. This feedback was made up so that it would be consistent for every participant. Prior researchers have used a similar procedure because it is difficult for people to determine whether they had answered these questions correctly or not, making both success and failure feedback equally plausible.

Then we asked if they would be interested in taking a tutorial on the material they failed. The results were dramatic: Upon hearing that they failed a series of questions, 85% of those who had read the article about the benefits of intellectual humility chose to invest in learning more about the failed subject. But just 64% of those who had read about the benefits of certainty chose to learn more.

In all of these studies, intellectually humbler adolescents showed in a variety of ways and via a variety of different measures that, when they got something wrong, they cared about getting it right the next time. Rather than throw up their hands and declare themselves to be helpless in the face of ignorance, intellectually humbler students set to work on learning more.

Other researchers’ findings that corroborate these results show that young people higher in intellectual humility are more motivated to learn and earn higher grades, in part because they are more open to corrective feedback.

We are continuing our research into how intellectual humility shapes teenagers’ lives and how parents, teachers and society can promote it. Some of our recent work has looked at how schools make it either easier or harder for young people to express intellectual humility. We also have questions about how much American parents, teachers and adolescents value intellectual humility. As with any research, we really don’t know what we’ll find, but we’re excited to learn.

Tenelle Porter, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Rowan University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Commentary |This Black History Month, fight for the freedom to learn

by Svante Myrick

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A little over a year ago, the College Board unveiled its long-awaited draft AP African American Studies curriculum. What happened next was sad — and all too predictable.

Florida officials, led by Gov. Ron DeSantis, howled. They claimed the course “lacks educational value” and violated state laws against teaching about race and racism. The College Board initially caved to Florida’s demands and said the course would be heavily redacted, then said it wouldn’t.

At the end of 2023, it released the final version of the course, and it’s…better. But it’s still missing some important concepts. The new course omits any discussion of “structural racism” and makes studying the Black Lives Matter movement — modern Black history by any measure — optional.

That pretty much sums up the state of the fight against censorship and book-banning in this Black History Month: better, but still problematic.

On the plus side, the last few months have brought some very good news.

School board candidates endorsed by the pro-censorship group Moms for Liberty went down to resounding defeats last fall. After Illinois became the first state to prohibit book bans, several states — including Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Washington, and Virginia — introduced their own anti-ban bills.

In December, two Black lawmakers, Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Maxwell Frost (D-FL), introduced bills in Congress aimed at fighting book bans. And a federal judge ruled that parts of an Iowa book ban were unenforceable.

But the censorship movement isn’t going away.

Moms for Liberty plans to start its own charter school in South Carolina. In other words, if you won’t let them ban books in your school, they’ll just start their own school. With your taxpayer money.

Meanwhile, librarians nationwide are being targeted by threats and harassment. And the propaganda outfit PragerU continues to pump out the offensive, woefully inaccurate junk it calls “edutainment” for public schools that will buy it.

So there’s still work to do.

Fortunately, the public is overwhelmingly on the right side of this issue. Poll after poll shows that Americans don’t support censorship and book bans in schools. Those of us who want children to have the freedom to learn are the majority.

We understand that kids are better prepared for life — and our country is better prepared to compete globally — when education is historically accurate and reflective of the diversity of our culture. We understand that book banning is un-American and censorship is a tool of dictators.

This majority needs to mobilize and be heard at the ballot box. The defeat of pro-censorship school board candidates in 2023 was a great start. Now we have to take that momentum into the local, state, and national elections this fall.

In the meantime, we also know that public pressure works. A public outcry got the College Board to change its plans for the African American Studies course. And when publisher Scholastic said it would segregate books about the Black and LGBTQ communities at its school book fairs, the public was outraged — and Scholastic reversed course.

Together, we have the power to stop the censors who want to whitewash our history and deprive kids of facts and stories that help them to understand our world. That applies to the Black experience in America, but also the experiences of LGBTQ people, Indigenous peoples, people of diverse faiths, immigrants, people with disabilities, and more.

Civil rights activists have pushed for decades for book publishers and educators to acknowledge and teach our full history, and to awaken our consciousness as a nation. We refuse to go backwards.

Black History Month is a great time for us to commit to using the power that we have to protect the freedom to learn. Our kids, and our country, will be better for it.

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About the author:
Svante Myrick serves as President and CEO of People For the American Way. Myrick garnered national media attention as the youngest-ever mayor of Ithaca, New York. This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org.

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Unity 2022-23 First Semester Honor Roll Announced

TOLONO - Almost two weeks ago, Unity High School announced the names of the first semester honor students. Students who achived a grade point average of 3.75 or better at the high school earn High Honor Roll recognition. Students earning a GPA of 3.20 to 3.74 are recognized as Honor students below. Congratulations to all the students listed below on the academic performance.

Senior High Honor Roll

Emily Anderlik
Roger Holben Jr.
Kiersten Reasor
Lillian Montgomery
Sona Khasikyan
Jayci McGraw
Kayla Nelson
Luke Williamson
Madison Loftsgaard
Kara Young
Ellen Ping
Matthew Brown
Rachel Aders
Caleb Amias
Aidan Anderson
Emmalee Atkins
Calvin Baxley
Bettie Branson
Mary Bryant
Annah Cloin
Jared Cross
Jordan Cross
Easton Cunningham
Brendan Graven
Asa Kuhns
Fenley Lopez
Andrew Manrique
Jacob Maxwell
Jolie Meyer
Lauren Miller
Dylan Moore
Abigail Pieczynski
Julia Ping
Sarah Rink
Kaitlyn Schweighart
Tsihon Shotton, Raena Stierwalt
Sophia Stierwalt
Emma Stratton
Ava Vasey

Senior Honor Roll

Garrett Wingler
Maddisen McConaha
Brandon Goyne
Lauren Cooke
Joshua Davidson
Myles Good
Mason Haas
Matea Cunningham
Hayleigh Clemmons
Tyler Liffick Worrell
Avery White
Hunter Duncan
Mason Perry
Emmillia Tiemann
Kayle Deck
Ian White
Brynn Clem
Reece Sarver
Natalie Weller
Kayla Daugherty
Anthony Chaney
Cale Rawdin
Annabelle Steg
Maria Buffo
Nicholas Nosler
Haley Carrington
Anna Clark
Paige Farney
Emily Hollett
Zoey Sorensen
Taylor Warfel
Eden Markstahler
Cole Marheine
Logan Allen
Jayden Clem
Anna Hamilton
Audrey Remole
David Baker Jr.
Alivia Renfroe
Andrew Mowrer
Haylen Handal

Junior High Honor Roll

Brenlee Dalton
Taylor Drennan
Tatum Meyer
Carson Parker
Briana Ritchie
Brooke Hewing
Lauren Neverman
Rylee Richardson
Analyse Carter
Cassidy Keller
Caelyn Kleparski
Dalton ONeill
Piper Steele
Bridget Vazquez
Breanna Weller
Abigail Woolcott
Keaton Roether
Carsyn Smith
Bailey Wayne
Santiago Sanchez
Madysen York
Rebecca Carter
Emma Fish
Brooklyn Haas
Caroline Jamison
Eden Johnson
Bayleigh Jones
Jocelyn LeFaivre
Reagan Little
Eric Miebach
Anna Polonus
Ava Price
Rosalia Requena Menchon
Isaac Ruggieri
Aubrey Sanders
Olivia Shike
Logan Siuts
Lily Steffens
Brock Suding
Ruby Tarr
Andrew Thomas
Jeremy Wells
Erica Woodard

Junior Honor Roll

Dominick Durso
Bryson Weaver
Kolten Wells, Anna Wood
Thayden Root
Lynndsay Talbott
Addison Ray
Kamryn Edenburn
Zachary Lorbiecki
Henry Thomas
Dean Niswonger
Gabriel Pound
McKayla Schendel
Sophia Wozencraft
Trevor McCarter
August Niehaus
Nicholas Brown
Natalie Ellars
Emma Plackett
Aubrey Schaefer
Carly Scroggins
Trevor OBryan
Connor Cahill
Bailey Grob
Shelby Hoel
Luna Thomson
Gabriel Carter
Kendra Cromwell
Margaret Ingleman
Meredith Reed
Alexia Vandiver
Emberly Yeazel
Desire De Los Santos
Madison Henry
Aiden Porter
Evelyn Albaugh
Kate Thomas

Sophomore High Honor Roll

Kolton Black
Bentten Cain
McKenzie Hart
Brady Parr
Jordan Daugherty
Ava Davis
Reigna Price
Ryan Rink
Ashley Rennels
Catharine Ford
Jenna Adkins
Lindy Bates
Molly Baxley
Sophia Beckett
Paige Brewer
Elle Cheely
Josephine Cler
Madelyn Darnall
Emily Decker
Ashlyn Denney
Estella Dodd
Kade Dubson
Chloey Duitsman
Hunter Eastin
Ava Fenter
Kadence Goff
Faith Hall
Sophia Hartke
Lauren Hellmer
Dallas Hollingsworth
Wyatt Huffstutler
Lindsey Johnson
Lindsey Lewis
Gracie Meharry
Alex Mowrer
Camryn Reedy
Rylee Reifsteck
Lydia Rossi
Meagan Rothe
Savannah Rubin
Lauren Shaw
Joseph Tempel
Avery Watson
Gavin Weaver

Sophomore Honor Roll

Avery Alagna
Noah Bryant
Caleb Hoewing
Jamessa Reinhart-Pelmore
Cohl Boatright
Dakota Brown- McClain
Nolan Remole
Braden Roderick
Teaguen Williams
Nathaniel DeNeal
Makayla Nonman
Emmerson Bailey
Jacob Davidson
Taylor Prough
Grant Steinman
Owen Taylor
Tessah Williams
Nolan Wishall
Austin Mikeworth
McKinley Weller, Brianna Blakley
Michael Bromley
Paige Garretson
Andrew King
Ryan Robinson
Daniel Stein
Logan Zumbahlen
Ezekiel De Los Santos
Ewa Klos

Freshmen High Honor Roll

Cameryn Cobb
Anna Vasey
Chason Daly
Tanner Gallivan
Logan Jeurissen
Bailey Tompkins
Samantha Gumbel
Isaac Neverman
Alexander Wells
Claire Zorns
Analea Popovics
Anna Amias
Aria Battaglia
Mylie Castle
Kaylee Cooke
Chloe Cousins
Eli Crowe
Ella Darnall
Crewe Eckstein
Olivia Egelston
Dane Eisenmenger
Callie Ellars
Camden Fairbanks
Margaret Garcier
Collin Graven
Isabel Grob
Caden Hensch
Lucas Hood
Miles Johnson
Faith Lampe
Kallista Lancaster
Mylie Loftsgaard
Claire Meharry
Ethan Mohr
Pheonix Molina
Deakin Moore
Mason ONeill
Harry Polonus
Dallas Porter
Mackenzie Pound
Ty Rodems
Katie Ruggieri
Jillian Schlittler
Hunter Shike
Annalise Shunk
Shelby Smith
Caden Stierwalt
Ginna Stierwalt
Madelyn Stierwalt
Emma Swisher
Ian Taber
Carter Tiemann
Lucille Wiesbrook
Paula Wilson

Freshman Honor Roll

Shyenne Eaton
Brody Osterbur
Jaiden Wilson
Taylor Daly
Kenley Harris
Brayden Henry
Tyler Huntington
Johanna Langley
Olivia Tempel
Athea Baird
Phoenix Navarre
Travis McCarter
Vanna Schriefer
Kamden Schuckman
Savanna Cruz
Joshua Heath
Anna Kuhns
Tyler Henry
Liana Sheets-Cowan
Shelby Zoch

Illinois teachers are focusing on post-pandemic learning strategies

byMark Richardson
Illinois News Connection

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CHICAGO -- Illinois educators are investing millions of dollars to accelerate the learning recovery process for students who fell behind their grade level during the pandemic.

The State Board of Education is implementing the Illinois Tutoring Initiative, a high-impact instruction program targeting the state's highest-need school districts.

Post-pandemic test data show only 30% of Illinois students read at grade level, and 75% are not proficient in math.

Jennifer Kirmes, executive director for teaching and learning at the Illinois State Board of Education, said the goal is to bring students up to speed as quickly as possible.

"The bottom line is so that students who weren't able to progress at what would have been the expected pace, as a result of the disruptions from the pandemic, are able to grow faster now as a result of this program," Kirmes explained.

So far, they have trained almost 500 so-called "high-impact" tutors to provide learning recovery instruction in 45 school districts statewide, and the department has distributed grant funds to an additional 27 districts to design and implement their own programs.

The initiative is funded by a $25 million grant from federal pandemic relief funds. Kirmes pointed out districts are chosen based on funding levels, their number of low-income students, and the impact of COVID-19 on lost, in-person instructional time.

"High-impact tutoring really works intentionally on the skills and competencies that students need to succeed," Kirmes noted. "Certainly with their homework, but also in classroom assignments and on assessments, with additional content."

She added as many as 45 additional districts will launch high-impact tutoring in early 2023 as the state expands the initiative.

St. Joseph-Ogden juniors make first-quarter Honor Roll

St. Joseph -- At the end of October, St. Joseph-Ogden High School announced the first Honor Roll and High Honor Roll of the academic year. Seventy-two students in the junior class earn a spot on the first-quarter list.

To receive honor roll recognition at SJO, students must earn a grade point average of 3.25 or higher on a 4.0 scale. Students whose GPA soared above 3.74 are recognized as High Honor Roll students.

High Honor Roll

Edward Alewelt
Logan Allen
Aden Armstrong
Owen Baltzell
Samantha Beetz
Chloe Burkhalter
Payton Carter
Garrett Denhart
Rachel Divan
Sadie Ericksen
Joseph Frasca
Mia Frederick
Addison Frick
Grace Getty
Logan Haake
Chloe Harper
Rachel Harris
Brody Hausman
Annabelle Hueber
Tanner Jacob
Kya Jolley
Helene Jones
Tori Kibler
Lauren Lannert
Hayden Lewis
Quinn Lewis
Taylyn Lockhart
Carson Maroon
Addisyn Martinie
Shannon McMahon
Talan Miller
Isaiah Mock
Rowan Musselman
Caleb Ochs
Macy Reed-Thompson
Addison Roesch
Addison Ross
Daniel Santiago
Lucas Skelton
Logan Smith
Dylan Smoot
Drew Thurman
Emma Thurman
Braxton Waller
Elissia Ward
Colin Wayland
Corbin Wells
Hayden Williams

Honor Roll

Chloe Allen
Kaden Allinger
Mya Bott
Kyler Brown
Tyler Buss
Maya Chahine
Grace Goldenstein
James Harbourt
Jayci Hayes
Rylee Huson
Holden Jones
Luke Landrus
Grace Mabrey
Seth McBride
Ethan McElroy
Cole Pruitt
Addison Seggebruch
Aescton Slowikowski
Madison Stevens
Addisyn Swope
Brody Weaver
Justice Wertz
Nicholas Wetzel
Spencer Wilson

100 SJO freshmen start prep academic career on the Honor Roll

St. Joseph -- At the end of last month, St. Joseph-Ogden High School announced the first quarter Honor Roll and High Honor Roll recipients. Seventy-eight first-year high school students earned High Honors recognition. An additional 22 members of the freshman class made it on the Honor Roll list.

To receive honor roll recognition at SJO, students must earn a grade point average of 3.25 or higher on a 4.0 scale. Students whose GPA soared above 3.74 are recognized as High Honor Roll students.

High Honor Roll

Caroline Aden
Trevor Ames
Kylie Barrowman
Lexie Barrowman
Kaitlyn Beyers
Emily Bird
Aiden Bonny
Addison Brooks
Sara Bytnar
Shelby Campbell
Jacob Carlson
William Carlson
Rudra Chaudhary
Adelyn Childers
Cade Crozier
Adreona Cruz
Caleb Dwyer
Callie Evans
William Franklin
Abigail Getty
Camden Getty
William Haley
Erica Hardimon
Zachary Harper
Claire Hartman
Bryson Houchens
Lydia Huckstadt
Adalyn Jannusch
Kaelyn Jolley
Sophia Kasper
Madilyn Kelley
Sami Kelso
Cooper Kietzman
Alexis Lackey
Ryker Lockhart
Mackenzie Loschen
Vance McComas
Michael McDaniel
Isabelle McGinnis
Kodey McKinney
Patrick McMahon
Ava Midkiff
Ashlyn Miller
Hannah Mock
Delaney Nekolny
Allison Ochs
Brennan Oleynichak
Kayla Osterbur
Colton Overstreet
Garrick Page
Branson Pearman
Kaleb Peoples
Asher Pruemer
Ainsley Rhoton
Lily Rice
Landon Roberts
Logan Rosenthal
Amber Ruppel
Ethan Sanders
Cameron Schlueter
Allison Schmitz
Gracyn Sjoken
Lucas Smith
Tao Smith
Karleigh Spain
Quinn Stahl
Sydney Steinbach
Hadley Sweet
Carlee Taylor
Luke Tranel
Hunter Van Meenen
Sophia Vliet
Ryan Watts
Emma Wells
Madeline Wells
Wyatt Wertz
Logan Xiao
Cyrus Zadeh

Honor Roll

Matthew Alexander
Josiah Beals
Tim Blackburn-Kelley
Timera Blackburn-Kelley
Bella Brooks
Christopher Coffey
Nathan Daly
Katherine Ericksen
Jeffrey Gossett
Charles Hale
Coy Hayes
Bryanna Hood
Amelia Huckstadt
Nick Jackson
Emma McKinney
Grace Preston
Graham Ray
Lance Retz
Jaxson Reynolds
Trevor Sexton
Jacek Slowikowski
Landon Smith