Schools

District 204 Students, Educators Honored for Excellence

Students and the teachers who inspired them while attending Neuqua Valley, Waubonsie Valley and Metea Valley high schools were recently recognized for Excellence in Education.

Submitted by Indian Prairie School District 204

The Indian Prairie Educational Foundation (IPEF) recently recognized 90 graduating seniors (30 from each high school), who were selected as the honorees for this year's Excellence in Education program. One student was nominated by each of the 10 academic departments at Metea Valley, , and High Schools.

Also recognized was a teacher or other staff member, who each student indicated has been a source of inspiration or had the “most influence” on his or her academic success.

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“This program is special because it not only honors the student's hard work, but it provides a platform for the students to thank their teachers,” said IPEF Board Member Mary Anne Castro, who chaired the organizing committee for this event. "This honor is often the highlight of a teaching career; in fact, we've had teachers travel from across the country to participate in this recognition."

This year's student honorees from Neuqua Valley, followed by their influential educators, are:

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Isabel Aguilar (Aubrey Smith), Ashley Cha (Trudy Bennorth), Michael Coduto (Jay Kellner), Annaliese Collier (Kelli Tufo-Jarnigan), Jyotsna Dhar (Kelli Tufo Jarnigan), Blake Grigsby (Joseph Macchia), Patrick Guenther (Brad Klimkowski), Kathryn Karas (Julie Bannack), Ashley Lee (Michael Rossi), Christopher Lindgren (Charles Staley), Alyssa Moy (Carol Kinast), Athrey Nadhan (David Johnston), Caroline O'Reilly (Gail Derrow), Monika Paulaviciute (Steve Jones), Samantha Perry (Dawn Pope), Zoe Persico (Michael Vandeleur), Bobbi Provost (Julie Fischer), Eduard Racareanu (Chris Cebrzyinski), Sruthi Rao (Kathleen Labianca), Courtney Rentas (Tammy Schutzenhofer), Anirudh Sailesh (James Fox), Pooja Saxena (Susan M. Smith), Kaveri Sharma (Michelle LaScola), Eric Stiles (Matt Ragusa), Bradley Stimple (Daria Pennington), Caitlyn Summers (Joe Moreau), Michael Terlep (Michael Rossi), Nandita Venkatesan (Karen Calvert), Alyssa Walker (Michael Rossi), Kevin Zhao (Laura Dabezic).

The Waubonsie Valley students who were recognized this year, followed by their influential educators, are:

Jibran Ahmed (Chris Wolak), Hannah Blais (Jimmie Jacobs), Megan Callison (Mark Myers), Tommy Campbell (Lauren Kato), Shannon Donelson (Angie Hysjulien), Jackson Eckert (Jerrine Roderique), Marrisa Ellig (Dianne Pierce), Sean Grannan (Katherine Steinbring), Vikram Gurusamy (James Donahue), Hannah Hockberger (Josh Chodoroff), Mike Hummel (Angie Hysjulien), James Hunter (Will Burck), Alex Koulos (David Owles), James Murphy (Carolyn Steward), Sabreen Onallah (James Donahue), James Palasz (Dave Gowing), Kimberly Palmer (Jerrine Roderique), Matthew Parker (Josh Chodoroff), Martynas Petraitis (Brian Wiencek), Carolina Rojas-Chaidez (Melissa Martinez), Aadharsh Sadhana (Tom Rossiano), Carly Sass (Jill Casey), Abhinav Singh (Kim Haake), Caroline Soyars (Michael Ditella), Kendall Stoller (Kristin Grapenthien), Tyler Strohl (Kim Haake), Rebecca Sun (Kim Haake), Justin Temple (Carl Armstrong), Culin Thompson (Steve Skorup).

And, for the first time, graduating seniors from Metea Valley were honored, along with their influential educators, including:

Smitha Ajjampur (Nancy Spring-Epley), Kimberly Baker (Ryan Doherty), Erin Calhoun (Nathan Bramstedt), Hong Chou (Rachel Cheng), Sarah Clewett (Don Devany), Kylie Escudero (Kathryn Parenti), Taylor Gaul (Patrick Raleigh), Megan Jean (Michelle Corlew), Christine Joseph (Susan Philos), Aubrey Kalbfleisch (Jessica Thomas), Austin Kinnavy (Susan Philos),  Jade Kivela (Julia Alholm), Nicole Knoepfle (Tammie Black), Alexandra Konkle (Karen Popovich), Joseph Lim (Erin Blanchard), Danielle Musachia (Heather Hankes), Ryan Pape (Ruben Rodriquez), Neal Patel (Patrick Feulner), Melina Ressing (Ryan Doherty),  Jillian Sellers (Robert Jordan), Jinesh Shah (Donald Pankuch), Jason Shiou (Mark Simon),  Matthew Shipley (Mark Liu), Ryan Solomon (Craig Tomczak), Rishi Sriram (Susan Philos), Erin Vincent (Mark Simon), Douglas Wong (Jessica Walsh), Sarah Wright (Casey Solgos), Kaitlyn Zagurski (Ryan Doherty), Laura Zimmermann (Sue Ippolito).

Since it was established in 1998, the IPEF’s Excellence in Education program has honored more than 1,200 District 204 high-school and middle-school students and about 800 staff members. 

A not-for-profit organization, the Indian Prairie Educational Foundation was created in 1988 to complement and enhance the educational opportunities provided to District 204 students. With the help of private donations received from District-area businesses, civic organizations, parents and staff members, the Foundation supports the development of program enrichments and services not normally financed with tax dollars. A vital part of the Indian Prairie community, the IPEF provides "educational extras" that make the difference between a very good school system and an excellent one. Learn more about the IPEF.


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