Scholarships, other awards given at spring banquet

posted on May 10, 2012

The annual Red Cloud High School spring awards ceremony expanded on previous years’ banquets by having some scholarships awarded to college-bound seniors. In addition to these monetary awards, many seniors and underclassmen alike received kudos and certificates of merit for hard work in the classroom and on the athletic field.

The first round of awards to be given out were the Academic West River All-Conference Awards, for outstanding students from the western half of the state. Recipients included: Jessica Clifford ’12, Cherella Hughes ’12, Lyle Jacobs ’12, James Knutson ’12, Tyrell O’Donnell ’12, Mariah Weston, ’12, Sierra Concha ’13, and Amanda Standing Bear ’14.

Outstanding student-athlete awards for the Black Hills Conference were awarded to seniors Lyle Jacobs, Tiarra Little, and Tyrell O’Donnell.

Next were the student council leadership awards, which were given to seniors in recognition for service through the high school student council, and general leadership among their peers. These recipients were: Brenna Banks, Renae Cournoyer, Cherella Hughes, Talia Lawrence, Bryce Leftwich, Tiarra Little, and Ernest Weston.

Letters were then given to the following students for outstanding academic work over the course of the school year: Jessica Clifford ’12, Cherella Hughes ’12, Lyle Jacobs ’12, Tiarra Little ’12, Tyrell O’Donnell ’12, Sierra Concha ’13, Amanda Standing Bear ’13, January Tobacco ’13, Kristian Big Crow ’14, Savannah Jensen ’14, Genriel Ribitsch ’14, and Kirkland Ross ’14.

The focus then turned to single-recipient honors, as the male and female awards for “Athlete of the Year” were given to seniors James Knutson and Tiarra Little, respectively. The Principal’s Leadership Award went to to Cherella Hughes ’12.

The next part of the ceremony was an annual tradition where the different academic departments of the high school gave awards to seniors that their teachers felt had demonstrated the strongest effort and dedication to courses in their subject areas throughout their four years of high school. The awardees for this section included:

- English – Tyrell O’Donnell

- Lakota Studies – Tyrell O’Donnell

- Math – Jamie Hudspeth

- Science – Tiarra Little

- Social Science – Lyle Jacobs

- Spiritual Formation – Tiarra Little

- Technology/Art – Marisa Snider

Underclassmen were then honored for overall excellence in their individual grade levels. Freshman excellence awards were given to Zach Nunez and Janice Emery. Sophomore excellence award winners were Carrie Beard and Savannah Jensen. And junior excellence awards went to Sierra Concha, Amanda Standing Bear, and January Tobacco.

Two students – one male and one female – were then honored with awards from the Jesuit Secondary Education Association (JSEA). The criteria for this particular award were that selected students conduct themselves in ways that best represent the JSEA’s ideal of the graduate at graduation (“grad at grad”), both in and out of the classroom. The grad at grad profile describes a student who is open to growth, intellectually competent, religious, loving, and committed to doing justice. The two awards were given to seniors Jamie Hudspeth and Ernest Weston.

High school students who finished the year with perfect attendance – not a single missed day – were also honored. These students included Anthony No Neck ’15, Nick Reddest ’15, Aaron Thompson ’15, Yuichi Kokawa ’14, Christi Sioux Bob ’14, Jin Yup Jung ’13, and Andre Starr ’13.

The bestowing of the President’s Excellence Awards followed. Prior to handing out the awards, Dean of Academics Clay Leonard read a letter to the recipients of this national award from President Barack Obama. The letter included the following commendation:

“Education is the key to ensuring our nation's young people gain the skills and knowledge necessary to achieve their dreams and succeed in the 21st century. By earning this honor, you have shown a commitment to working hard in the classroom and to meeting the highest academic standards. Students like you will chart the course of our country's unwritten history, and I commend you for setting a powerful example for all young Americans.”

The four seniors to receive this award were Jessica Clifford, Lyle Jacobs, Tiarra Little, and Tyrell O’Donnell.

Finally, at the banquet, seventeen scholarships, ranging from $100 to $750 were awarded to seniors who had earned them by living up to the various qualifications attached to each. The full list of scholarship recipients is as follows:

The Carol Jacobs Memorial Scholarship – Jamie Hudspeth

The Catherine A. Laurence Award – Tayler Morgan

The Cioccolanti Scholarship – James Knutson

The Donald and Arlene Kusse Memorial Scholarship – Dallas Tobacco

The George S. Laurence Scholarship – Kiaunna Big Crow

The Hirsch Award – Bryce Leftwich and Tayler Morgan

The James J. Lingane Memorial Scholarship – Kyra Poor Bear-Young

The Joseph A. Gillis Memorial Scholarship – Cherella Hughes

The Lois Ernsberger Memorial Scholarship – Mariah Weston

The Lucy Randall Trimble Memorial Scholarship – Orin Morrison

The O’Brien Family and Joseph and Cecilia Wenzel Scholarship – Sam Hare

The Paul K. and Catherine F. Solon Memorial Scholarship – Sylas Running Eagle

The Phyllis Fairbanks Memorial Scholarship – Jamie Hudspeth

The Yolande B. Pellerin Scholarship – Mariah Weston

Security First Bank Scholarships – Orin Morrison and Sylas Running Eagle

At the very end of the ceremony, eleven students were inducted into the National Honor Society, but that will be the focus of a separate story.

Congratulations to the many students who were honored at the spring awards banquet!