
Jenni Alepra awards Zachary Taylor with the Student of the Year Award.
Hundreds of awards and scholarships were presented to the Class of 2014 Sunday afternoon during the 106th annual graduation ceremony. The identities of the commencement awards were kept confidential until the ceremony and it was evident in the graduates’ faces as they sparkled with excitement.
The top student awards were awarded by school board member and branch manager of United Community Bank of Gillespie. Alepra presented the school’s top awards to Justine Hill for the perfect attendance award, Kayli Morris for the Illinois Principal’s Award and Zachary Taylor for the 2014 Student of the Year.
High school agriculture and welding instructor Rick Spencer had the honors of distributing a number of awards to his graduating seniors who have greatly impressed him over their high school tenure. Spencer said it was hard for him to see his seniors go, but he’s excited to see what they accomplish. The welding awards were presented to Jerry Crites and Nathan Dickinson, the agriculture award was presented to Stephanie Hartke and the horticulture award was presented to Shelby Heyen. Spencer went on to present the FFA Alumni Scholarship to Stephanie Hartke and Shelby Heyen and the Leland “Colonel” Ashby Scholarships to Stephanie Hartke, Shelby Heyen and Jerry Crities.
Mark Dugger, Brent Hustedde and Pete Visintin Jr. took the podium next to award three more vocational scholarships. Stephanie Hartke was the lucky recipient of both the Macoupin County Ag Education scholarship presented by Dugger and the National FFA Rabo AgriFinance Scholarship presented by Hustedde. Visintin presented the Arden Clemonds Vocational Education Scholarship, which includes a $1,000 scholarship, to Nathan Dickinson.

Shelby Heyen gives Rick Spencer a hug after receiving the FFA Alumni Scholarship.
Michelle Smith, high school softball coach and high school science instructor, awarded four more graduating seniors with athletic awards. Smith awarded Nathan Henrichs and Kayli Morris with the Betty (Dunn) Bray Memorial Scholar-Athlete Award and then awarded Derrek Tiburzi with the Dr. Charles R. Heinz Memorial Scholar-Athlete Award. Then, Smith got to award Molly Gray, a senior softball player of hers, with the honorable IHSA Sport a Winning Attitude Award. Smith said Gray was chosen by a coach from an opposing team who said Gray “exemplifies what it is to be a good sport and support a winning attitude.”
Smith continued by distributing department awards to Samantha Elizondo (Chemistry Award), Ashley Corbin (Biology Award), Blake Peterson (Math Award), Erika Schmidt (Math Award), Samantha Elizondo (English Award), Zachary Taylor (English Award), Derrek Tiburzi (DAR Award) and Mirena Pebley (SAR Award).
High school history instructor Jennifer Brown then replaced Smith and continued to hand out department awards. Brown award Austin Lytle (History Award), Samantha Elizondo (Spanish Award), Kayli Morris (Bertolino Business Award), Colin Hose (Information Processing Award), Jake Fredericks (Business Award) and Larissa Borror (Graphic Arts Award).
Zach Simon and Angela Brink then took over the podium to distribute their annual music awards. They both said it was a very tough decision for them and they wanted to award multiple students with the award, but they had to decide on one. Simon awarded the John Philip Sousa Award to senior Zachary Taylor and Brink awarded the Vocal Music Award to Layne Knoche.
Lastly, high school guidance counselor Joni Paine presented the Illinois State Scholar scholarship award to Samantha Elizondo, Ellen Gray, Stephanie Hartke, Ashlen Hayes, Justine Hill, Austin Lytle, Mirena Pebley, Erika Schmidt, Jason Stromsland, Zachary Taylor, Derrek Tiburzi and Tyler Whitfield.
Paine continued by recognizing the 2013-2014 graduating members of the National Honor Society – Samantha Elizondo, Jacob Fredericks, Ellen Gray, Molly Gray, Stephanie Hartke, Ashlen Hayes, Michael Henderson, Nathan Henrichs, Shelby Heyen, Erinn Karlak, Layne Knoche, Eric Lancaster, Mirena Pebly, Tateum Rosentreter, Erika Schmidt, Jason Stromsland, Zachary Taylor and Derrek Tiburzi.
In closing, Paine awarded the Staunton Ladies Auxilary Scholarship to Derrek Tiburzi and announced the recipients for the Chad Ashby Scholarship – Jenna Boaz, Joseph Dopuch, Samantha Elizondo, Ashlen Hayes, Ashlynn Jackson, Kayli Morris, Mirena Pebley, Tateum Rosentreter, Zachary Taylor and Derrek Tiburzi.
The Doug Ashby Scholarship was awarded to Abby Pitchford and the Selma J. Hartke Scholarship winners were Joe Dopuch, Shelby Heyen, Ashlynn Jackson, Abby Pitchford, Maiya Bertolis, Kayli Morris, Kim Werner, Summer Johnson and Erinn Karlak.
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