May 19, 2020
By: Bill Conger
The DeKalb West School 8th grade class will be honored in a recognition ceremony that will be available on YouTube Channel: Sean Antoniak. Due to social distancing guidelines, the awards ceremony was taped last Friday with Principal Sabrina Farler, Assistant Principal Joey Agee and a few teachers. Students picked up their awards and other items from school in a drive-through Monday (May 18).
8th grade teachers Karen France and Sean Antoniak announced the academic awards. Tess Barton and Ella Hendrixson received the English Language Arts award while Tess Barton and Jackson Vantrease earned the Algebra I award. The Math award was given to Gage Cote, Karson Smallwood, and Jayden Dheere. In History, Blair Gipe, Jackson Vantrease and Alex Antoniak were honored, and the award in Science went to Jackson Vantrease.
In her address to students, Principal Sabrina Farler shared a few tips for their journey to high school. First, be kind. Think to yourself. How do I want others to see me? Secondly, ask questions. If you have a problem, ask an adult for guidance. Third, don’t be afraid to fail. Challenge yourself. Next, keep reading and writing. It does make a difference in your future. Last, believe and trust in yourself. All things are possible if you believe.
Students with the highest grade point average their 6th through 8th grade years were honored with plaques. Alex Antoniak was ranked number one with a GPA of 3.882, Blair Gipe was ranked number two with a GPA of 3.870, Zoi Hale and Jackson Vantrease were tied with a ranking at number 3 with GPA’s of 3.852, and Tess Barton was ranked number five with a GPA of 3.848.
Named to the All A Honor roll were Alex Antoniak, Tess Barton, Blair Gipe, Ella Hendrixson, Jaxon Humphrey, Aden Spivey, and Jackson Vantrease. Named to the A & B Honor roll were Brayden Carter, Alyssa Crook, Carson Donnell, Wil Farris, Riley Fuson, Zoi Hale, Brynn Harvey, Shauna Kempf, Kayleigh Overstreet, Austin Nicholson, Hannah Redmon, Emily Satterfield, Kolton Slager, and Karson Smallwood.
Thirteen students in the school qualified for the Perfect Attendance award but only one 8th grader, Marshall Farler, earned the award. He missed no days of school, was never late and didn’t leave early any this academic year. Citizenship Awards went to Jackson Vantrease, Alex Antoniak, Tess Barton, and Ella Hendrixon. Mrs. Lesa Hayes presented the Mrs. Georgia Young award in honor of her mother, the late DWS Cafeteria Manager to Zoi Hale. The award is given each year to academically-strong students with excellent school spirit and character. The “Making Tracks” awards for the most improved 8th graders went to Alyssa Crook and Aydin Burke.
The 2019-2020 Mrs. Amanda Mullinax Librarian’s Award was presented to Presley Finocchiaro for the most Accelerated Reader Points with 1,536.8.
Junior Beta Lead Sponsor Jessica Antoniak presented Alyssa Crook with the 2019-2020 Service Award for the most hours this school year with 71.5. Alex Antoniak received the Cumulative Service Award for the most overall hours earned since becoming a member with 168.25. 4 PAWS Awards were presented to Angelina Davenport and Hunter Cannon. Computer teacher Lori Pryor announced the winners in the activities classes. The Computer awards went to Chris Carroll, Logan Daniels, Xavier Parker, and Ally Tarpley. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) awards were presented to Chris Carroll, Gage Cote, Jayden Dheere, and Kayleigh Overstreet. Earning the PE awards were Tess Barton, Weslie McCowan, Austin Nicholson, and Emily Satterfield, Earning the Library awards were Jaxon Humphrey, Kayleigh Overstreet, Xavier Parker, and Serenity Patterson while Gage Cote, Blair Gipe, Xavier Parker, and Serenity Patterson earned the Music awards. Marshall Farler, Brynn Harvey, and Blair Gipe were awarded the Guidance awards.
Congratulations to the DWS 8th Grade Class of 2020: Adaliene Ahlgard, Alex Antoniak, Tess Barton, Trey Beilfuss, Graceson Boyd, Aydin Burke, Hunter Cannon, Chris Carroll, Brayden Carter, Gavin Cooper, Gage Cote, Alyssa Crook, Ethan Curtis, Nick Dandurand, Logan Daniels, Angelina Davenport, Jayden Dheere, Carson Donnell, Marshall Farler, Wil Farris, Presley Finocchiaro, Riley Fuson, Blair Gipe, Zoi Hale, Brynn Harvey, Ella Hendrixson, Jaxon Humphrey, Mia Kemper, Shauna Kempf, Weslie McCowan, Blake Mendoza, Jaylnn Nichols, Austin Nicholson, Melanie Ortiz, Kayleigh Overstreet, Xavier Parker, Serenity Patterson, Hannah Redmon, Maressa Rose, Brayden Saliski, Emily Satterfield, Kolton Slager, Karson Smallwood, Aden Spivey, Shelby Starnes, Ally Tarpley, Jackson Vantrease, Karly Vickers, Hasten Waggoner, Jocelyn Walters, and Hanniah West.