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On Monday, the School Board honored Student All-Stars from West Albany High School for their motivation, perseverance, growth, and school and community service.

West Albany students (pictured from left) are:

DREW THOMPSON

Drew has been leading and serving others since he stepped foot in West Albany High School. He has spent countless hours volunteering in school and in our community. The amount of service he has compiled is only topped by how he serves. Drew is incredibly encouraging, engaging and accepting of others. This causes him to pull other people into service. He is a service force of nature. Drew makes every event fun. He is the kind of person that you want to serve with because he is always so positive.   

ALLI PEARSON

Alli has been an integral part of our leadership program. She does amazing things rather quietly. Alli has served her school for the past four years compiling an impressive resume. She has been the chair of several different committees over her tenure. Her organization and dependability are stellar. She does not seek the spotlight, she just serves others. Alli is truly a servant leader one that doesn’t need recognition; she does it for the right reasons.

EVELYN LOPEZ

Evelyn Lopez has contributed to WAHS in many ways, but her participation in the school and community events associated with Multicultural Club / Encompass West is significant. Since her freshman year, she has chosen to be involved in a variety of activities, while keeping a firm control on her academics. Evelyn has always stepped up to help at Festival Latino and volunteered to translate at Samaritan Health screening events. She has been a key organizer in the annual Cesar E. Chavez Leadership Conference. Most importantly perhaps is her willingness to be inclusive of all people at all times. Through her kindness, she has reached out to many and helped students to feel welcome, included and important.

TARA KEUTER

Tara has been a volunteer in the special education department for the past two years as a peer tutor and as a member of our unified sports team. The connection that Tara has made with the special education department doesn’t stop in the classroom. If you walk the halls of West Albany High School, don’t be surprised if you hear her saying hello and offering a high five to some of our kids. Tara has a heart for the students that desire friendship the most, special needs students. Tara also helped build the foundation of West Albany’s Unified Sport Program making an extremely positive experience for so many of our special needs students. Tara brings a smile and a positive energy to every practice.  

On Monday, the School Board honored Student All-Stars from South Albany High School for their motivation, perseverance, growth, and school and community service.

South Albany students (pictured from left) are:

Riley Swanson

Riley is a kind, thoughtful, empathetic and caring young lady. She cares about those less fortunate and goes above and beyond to find resources to acknowledge those at her school. She is often in the counseling office asking, “do you know of anyone who could use a little ‘pick-me-up’ today?” And every holiday, she prepares gift baskets and goodies for students who are homeless. Her dedication to her Spread the Love campaign is tireless. She makes our school community better.

Alana Jimenez

Alana is studious, hard-working and has an incredible attitude. She is a great addition to all classroom discussions and strives to be the best version of herself. She really likes to help younger kids with music and directs our Pep Band at games. She is a true leader in the band program. She is respected, has incredible skill, and is likely to become a very accomplished conductor as she pursues her dreams in college.

Bryce Burton

Bryce is committed to serving all of the players in the boys soccer program, leading by example and always being one of the first to arrive and last to leave each practice. Bryce is also a huge part of the SAHS student leadership program and is constantly looking for ways to serve and help lighten the load for others. He truly understands the idea of being a servant leader and quietly goes about making everyone around him better.

Not pictured:

Arianna Gonzalez-Caz

Arianna Gonzalez-Caz is a force to be reckoned with…she dives into her school community with passion and purpose.  She is part of MECHA and  Sources of Strength. She isn’t afraid to work on herself and become a better version of herself. She is willing to go out of her comfort zone and push herself as a leader, striving to become a better version of herself. In addition, she has worked hard to achieve while overcoming significant obstacles.
 

On Monday, the School Board honored Student All-Stars from Albany Options HIgh School for their motivation, perseverance, growth, and school and community service.

Albany Options students (pictured from left) are:

Amber Scott
Amber is a senior at AOS. She is active with her church youth group. She has collected food and clothing for FISH of Albany, volunteered with the Special Olympics and at the annual carnival at North Albany Elementary each Halloween. She has also done a volunteer clean-up project at Periwinkle Elementary.

Madison Frederic
Maddie is a senior at AOS. She has been active with her school’s program that partners students with senior citizens at a nearby nursing home and with younger students across the street at Sunrise Elementary School. Additionally, Maddie has volunteered at the Albany Senior Citizen Center and with the annual Arts and Air Festival.

Not pictured:

Anessa Johnson
Anessa is a 10th grader at AOS. She has been an active member of her church youth group where she participated in food and clothing drives for FISH of Albany, helped with childcare responsibilities during church services and at vacation bible school. She volunteers at the Boys and Girls Club of Albany and has been an active part of the AOS Leadership class. Through this class, she helped raise money for support of families during the holidays.

Students from around the district swam laps at the Albany Community Pool to raise money for grant to support educators and programs. The iSwim event is one of three main fundraisers for the Albany Public Schools Foundation.

Students seek pledges for the laps they swim. Half of the funds they raise go back to their schools, and half support the annual classroom grant program.

Timber Ridge students are donating to the Empty Bowls Project at OSU, an annual fundraising project to benefit local food pantries. The Empty Bowls Project is held in communities around the country. Attendees make a donation for a meal of soup and bread to support hunger relief efforts. Hand-made ceramic bowls are also available for a donation.

Timber Ridge art teacher Elizabeth Mann’s Sixth, seventh and eighth graders made ceramic bowls to donate to the event, which is scheduled for March 12 on the OSU campus.

“Danica Berry at OSU to see if we would be willing to make some bowls for their empty bowls fund raising event. My 6th,7th, and 8th graders were eager to participate and have made a bunch of lovely bowls to donate,” said Mann.

Mann said the Timber Ridge leadership students took the following photographs of the art class.