St. Joseph-Ogden third quarter High Honor Roll

ST. JOSEPH - At the end of March, 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.

Freshman High Honor Roll

Kira Aase
Ava Alexander
Tyler Bonny
Ava Bronowski
Patrick Clark
Carly Coffey
Tessa Cox
Avarie Dietiker
Ainsley Dirksmeyer
Trey Divan
Connor Eaton
Olivia Edington
Eli Franklin
Isabella Frerichs
Ava Gallo
Conlan Gill
Brandon Grindley
Holden Hausle
Colton Heidel
Averie Helfrich
Nathan Hinkel
Kellyn Irwin
Ashlee Jannusch
Lilyah Jones
Isabel Kates
Megan Kearney
Lillyan Kelley
Addison Knight
Avery Lappin
Royce Loschen
Charles Martin
Landon May
Henry McCannon
Lane McKinney
Connor McMahon
Michaela Morrison
Mason Osterbur
Cameron Palmisano
Mara Perkins
Marissa Perkins
Miranda Perkins
Hailey Phillips
Evan Potter
Airin Rash
Kenley Ray
Abigail Reynolds
Roisin Rice
Alyssa Robinson
Jaylin Seal
Alexis Smith
Vivian Smith
Nayeli Steele
Brooklyn Stevens
Ethan Suchor
Mataya Thaman
Korinne Travis
Evelyn Valentine
Viviene Vliet
Owen Wall
Lucas Waters
Ian Wolken
Samson Zadeh

Sophomore High Honor Roll

Lillian Ahart
Zhou Barbee
Abigail Bello
Zachary Benoit
Olivia Berlatsky
Colin Burnett
Brenda Castro
Elizabeth Clark
Abigail Crider
Hayden Dahl
Iris Davis
Madison Farber
Nathaniel Farney
Nolan Franzen
Leah Gaines
Skyler Graham
Anna Hammond
Mark Harbourt
Nicholas Harris
Tyler Hess
Maggie Hewkin
Brynn Ikemire
Mia Jones
Alivia Learned
Avrianna Lyttle
Chase Mabry
Adam Marschke
Hadley McDonald
Finnegan Miller
Maddux Musselman
Steven Newman
Mason Ramm
Kiah Riesel
Dennis Rineberg
Sophie Schmitz
Ava Smoot
Adeline Stevens
Ani Stine
Isabella Turner
Brayden Waller
Jack Wear
Emerson Williams
Declan Yohnka
Dalton York

Junior High Honor Roll

Kylie Barrowman
Lexie Barrowman
Adalyn Bell
Kaitlyn Beyers
Emily Bird
Tim Blackburn-Kelley
Aiden Bonny
Addison Brooks
Sara Bytnar
William Carlson
Rudra Chaudhary
Adelyn Childers
Christopher Coffey
Katherine Ericksen
Abigail Getty
Camden Getty
Charles Hale
William Haley
Erica Hardimon
Zachary Harper
Claire Hartman
Lydia Huckstadt
Adalyn Jannusch
Kaelyn Jolley
Sophia Kasper
Madilyn Kelley
Samantha Kelso
Cooper Kietzman
Alexis Lackey
Ryker Lockhart
Mackenzie Loschen
Michael McDaniel
Danny McGinnis
Kodey McKinney
Patrick McMahon
Ava Midkiff
Ashlyn Miller
Hannah Mock
Delaney Nekolny
Allison Ochs
Brennan Oleynichak
Kayla Osterbur
Colton Overstreet
Branson Pearman
Kaleb Peoples
Grace Preston
Asher Pruemer
Ainsley Rhoton
Lily Rice
Landon Roberts
Logan Rosenthal
Amber Ruppel
Trevor Sexton
Cameron Schluter
Allison Schmitz
Gracyn Sjoken
Tao Smith
Karleigh Spain
Sydney Steinbach
Hadley Sweet
Carlee Taylor
Hunter Van Meenen
Sophia Vliet
Madeline Wells
Wyatt Wertz
Logan Xiao
Cyrus Zadeh

Senior High Honor Roll

EJ Beckett
Miles Birt
Landon Brown
Arely Castro
Richi Chimal
Preslee Christians
Ella Dietiker
Luke Ditchfield
Andrea Dominguez
Jackson Ennis
Savanna Franzen
Addison Funk
Kaiden Gaines
Tayton Gerdes
Olivia Getty
Makennah Hamilton
Lauren Harris
Haley Hesterberg
Maebree Houston
Tinley Ideus
Paige Johnson
Sara Kearney
Amilliya Kindle
Owen Knap
Jeffrey Kuchenbrod
Logan Lackey
Logan Mills
Gabriel Mortlock
Grace Osterbur
Chayse Palmer
Sonia Patel
Nathan Phillips
Sydney Reitmeier
Audrey Ruppel
Charles Schmitz
Tanner Siems
Kyler Swanson
Coy Taylor
Samantha Uden
Charley Wright
Fiona Xiao

Measles cases reach 600: Experts warn of contagion risk and vaccine importance

by Matt Sheehan
OSF Healthcare

PEORIA - As measles cases continue to climb across the United States, the long-term implications can’t be ignored.

The respiratory viral infection, although thought eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, has reemerged, especially among unvaccinated individuals. As of early April 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported more than 600 confirmed cases of measles.

Measles is extremely contagious

"The key to measles is how highly infectious it is. Each person that has measles will infect between 12 and 18 people in an unvaccinated situation," says Doug Kasper, MD, an infectious disease specialist with OSF HealthCare. "The key for controlling measles is widespread vaccine use."

Doug Kasper, M.D.
OSF Infectious Disease Specialist

For reference, each influenza patient, on average, will infect one to two others.

The measles vaccine is normally offered once a child has reached one year of age. It's a two-shot series, which came on the market in 1963. Dr. Kasper says this gives medical experts decades of data that show a correlation between people receiving the vaccine, and close to zero circulation of the virus in the United States.

The states with measles outbreaks are in unvaccinated people, and no breakthrough cases (in those who have received the vaccine) have been reported, Dr. Kasper adds.

The long-term risks for unvaccinated measles patients

"There is emerging information that vaccination not only protects an individual from not becoming ill or having less severity of illness with a viral exposure, whether that's measles, chicken pox, influenza or COVID-19, but that there are long-term risks from viral infections that we do not appreciate in the moment," Dr. Kasper says. "Some of these have been associated with memory loss or dementia as somebody ages. Some of these are associated with organ disease like hepatitis or kidney disease."

Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis (SSPE)

SSPE is a rare, deadly degenerative disease of the central nervous system that can happen seven to 10 years after a measles infection. Young children, pregnant women and immunocompromised people are the most at-risk for SSPE. One to three out of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurologic complications, the CDC says.

SSPE symptoms happen over four stages.

Stage 1: Personality changes, mood swings or depression. There may also be fever and headaches, this stage can last up to six months
Stage 2: Muscle spasms and uncontrolled movement problems. Loss of vision, dementia and seizures can occur
Stage 3: Twisting movements and rigidity. Sometimes death
Stage 4: Serious brain damage, including areas of the brain that control breathing, heart rate and blood pressure, leading to coma and death

Immune amnesia

Another long-term impact of measles is known as immune amnesia. The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) calls immune amnesia “one of the most unique and most dangerous features of measles pathogenesis.” The extremely rare condition causes people’s immune systems to “forget” how to fight off infections and makes the person more susceptible. The ASM determined it normally takes two to three years after a measles infection for protective immunity to return.

A measles outbreak was declared in Northeast Illinois in early 2024 and declared “over” by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) in June. The expectation of statewide health experts is that measles will return to Illinois in the coming months. This is mainly due to heavy travel through Chicago airports and summer festivals. County health departments have now been tasked with keeping an eye on their measles vaccine rates and identifying areas where vaccine rates are low.

Peoria County's measles vaccine rate is quite high, around 95%. But outlying communities in central Illinois have lower vaccine rates, normally more rural counties. Health experts at Michigan Medicine call the Great Lake State “ripe for a measles outbreak,” as only 66% of toddlers receive the recommended childhood immunizations.

Measles symptoms

"Measles typically presents with a high fever, typically much higher than what we'd see with seasonal colds or influenza. Fevers can be 104 or 105 degrees Fahrenheit," Dr. Kasper says. "That's followed by a runny nose and a characteristic rash. This typically develops on the head and then spreads down the rest of the body."

“We don’t want to go back”

"Measles at its peak, in the 1950s before the vaccine, led to a significant number of hospitalizations in young children. Around 50,000 hospitalizations were estimated per year and about 500 deaths," Dr. Kasper says. "We don't want to go back to that scenario in any capacity, where we have a large number of unvaccinated people. The outcomes could be too severe."

Immunocompromised people like those who have received an organ transplant, cancer patients or those on long-term therapies that could impact their immune system, are at high risk for measles.

Why vaccines are so important right now

Summer travel along with large crowds at places like airports and theme parks, will likely bring more measles cases to the United States.

"This time, as good as any time, is to make sure somebody is updated on their vaccinations. If somebody isn't sure if they were vaccinated as a child, they should talk to their primary care provider about testing or receiving the vaccine. If someone is immunocompromised and they might be at a higher risk for measles through travel in areas that have exposure, they should talk to their primary care provider about the vaccine," Dr. Kasper says. "If someone has young children or is at an age where vaccine is recommended, we wholly recommend for them to discuss with their provider to remain up to date on their vaccine series."

Vaccine hesitancy continues to be a topic of discussion, one that Dr. Kasper recommends patients openly discuss with their medical provider.

Natural immunity is not a viable option with measles. The highly infectious nature of the virus, along with the severity of symptoms and potential for long-term complications, make it an illness people need to try and avoid entirely.

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