Students, staff recognized at the May 13 board meeting

Each month during the school year, the Pattonville Board of Education honors students, staff and volunteers who have gained recognition outside of the district or who’ve made a special contribution to Pattonville. Learn more about students and staff who were recognized this month.

Pattonville Heights Middle School

Mizzou COMP Competition

Pattonville Heights Middle School sixth grader Cohl McTyer earned second place in the University of Missouri’s Creating Original Music Project (COMP) competition in the category of Middle School: Popular - Electronically Produced. This statewide competition recognizes K-12 students who compose original works in a variety of musical styles. Honorees have the opportunity to perform at the University of Missouri and both they and their schools are awarded cash prizes. Pattonville Heights will receive $750 to be spent on musical instruments, equipment and other learning materials to directly enhance music education in the school.

Worldfest Presenter

Pattonville Heights Middle School eighth grader Chanell Burnett was invited to read her original poem during the opening ceremony of Worldfest. This public event on April 27 celebrated cultural diversity through performances, crafts and cuisine. Burnett read an original poem she wrote in seventh grade about celebrating diversity and accepting differences, titled “Black and Beautiful.” Worldfest is sponsored by the City of Maryland Heights and took place at St. Louis Music Park. Burnett was taught by English teacher Melissa Wetzel.

Districtwide

Des Lee Fine Arts Festival

Students from three Pattonville schools were nominated by their art teachers to participate in a visual art workshop as part of the Des Lee Fine Arts Festival on Feb. 4 and 5. Each student also received honorable mention for art they created during the festival. These students are: Holman Middle School eighth grader Gracie Beane, who was nominated by art teacher Montie Richter; Pattonville Heights Middle School eighth grader Chandi Kennedy, who was nominated by art teacher Katrina Van Ryn; and Pattonville High School junior Melaina Prentice, who was nominated by art teacher Beth Kathriner. The festival was organized with the assistance of Chris Casaine, an art teacher at the high school, who serves as the chair of the visual arts for middle and high school art festivals.

 

Pattonville High School

Post-Dispatch Scholar Athlete

Pattonville High School senior Emma Eiswirth was named the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Scholar Athlete for Pattonville High School. The scholar athlete program honors high school seniors who excel in both athletics and academics. Each school selects one student who lettered in at least one varsity sport and ranks in the top 25% of their graduating class. Scholar Athletes were honored at a St. Louis Cardinals game and in a special section of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper. As a swimmer, Eiswirth is a seven-time state finalist, eight-time individual conference finalist and four-time first team all-conference honoree. She holds multiple school records, including in the 100 breaststroke and multiple relay events. Academically, she ranks 41st in her class and is involved in several honor societies and leadership activities.

Apple Maker Academy

Pattonville High School freshman Mustafa Kareem was accepted into the Apple Maker Academy. He will have the opportunity to spend four weeks this summer at Apple in Silicon Valley engaging with employees, doing internship work and building a capstone product. Apple will provide all expenses paid and a technology package that he will be able to keep following the academy. Only 30 students nationwide were selected to participate.

SLU Writing Competition

Pattonville High School senior Gabrielle Kellner earned second place for her poem in the Saint Louis University Undergraduate Writing Competition: 1818 Dual Enrollment Edition. The award honors literary achievement for students in grades nine through 12 in the genres of creative nonfiction, poetry and short fiction for students. Kellner was awarded $150 and her poem was published in the printed program for this year's St. Louis Literary Award Ceremony took place on Tuesday, April 9, at the Sheldon Concert Hall and honored author Colson Whitehead. She was taught by English teacher Jennifer Raymond.

Foundry Art Centre

Six AP Art and Design students had their artwork selected for the Foundry Art Centre’s Regional High School Student Show. This exhibit was open at the Foundry Art Centre from March 7 to 22. Melaina Prentice earned the Art in Mind award for her mixed media painting. Additional students who had their artwork accepted into the juried exhibit were: Gwendolyn Fallert, for her drawing; Lauren Harris, for her drawing; Mackenzie Newell, for her mixed media drawing; Ellis North, for his painting; and Cheyenne Smith, for her digital drawing. These students were taught by Beth Kathriner.

Manufacturing Competition

A team of high school students earned third place in the Additive Manufacturing Competition, hosted by the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Center St. Louis (AMICSTL) and Project MFG on Feb. 28. The competition featured nine high school teams demonstrating their expertise in problem-solving, engineering principles and precision manufacturing. Students were challenged to assemble a CubeSat — a small, standardized satellite — using various additive manufacturing methods. The students received a $500 award for their work. Students who were part of this team were Aiden Alvey, Tanish Dorasani, Brandon Hurtado and Evan Spell. These students were sponsored by computer science teacher Stephanie Carson. 

World Wide Technology Competition

A team of five students from Pattonville High School earned first place in the World Wide Technology (WWT) STEM Student Forum. The forum challenges high school teams to create solutions for their school's or communities unique needs. Each team works directly with a WWT mentor to develop a solution to the proposed problem over six weeks. At the end of the program, five teams are selected to present their final solutions to a panel of WWT leaders. The Pattonville l team received the $10,000 first place prize for their project Ducky, an AI powered browser extension that detects phishing emails, fact-checks social media posts and articles and serves as an AI chatbot to help students improve their cybersecurity literacy. This is the fourth time a Pattonville team has earned first place in this competition. Students who were part of this team were: Matthew Cafiero, Elisha Dukes, Rhys Harden, Lucas Konopka and Matthew Wasser. These students were sponsored by computer science teacher Stephanie Carson.

DECA Honors

On Feb. 6, a group of Pattonville High School DECA students participated in the organization’s district competition. From there, students who placed first or second in their event qualified to compete at the state competition from March 23 to 25. At state, two students, who placed first in their category at districts, qualified to represent Pattonville at the national competition in Orlando, Florida in April. Charlotte Lohman placed first in business services marketing and Krisha Avaiya placed third in human resource management.

Students who competed at the state competition after earning first place at districts were Shauntavia Conway in hospitality and tourism professional selling, Solyana Damte and Helen Kbrom in buying and merchandising; Nmesomachukwu Ezeokafor in business services marketing; Yishan Lan for innovation plan; Antania Pratt in financial services; Amauri Thornton in financial services; Shawn Ward in apparel and accessories marketing; and Brianna Washington in accounting.

Additionally, students who competed at districts were Malachi Jackson in automotive service marketing; Mackenzie Newell in marketing communication; Imani Wood in principles of entrepreneurship; and Benjamin Usry in sports and entertainment marketing. In addition, members of the DECA team participated in the annual Adzou Challenge at the University of Missouri and earned the Best Marketing Tactics Award. They were Lohman, Newell, Pratt, Thornton and Washington. DECA students were sponsored by teacher Dr. Raghib Muhammad. Also, business teacher Kelly Thames assisted with the DECA state competition events and received a 10 year DECA service award.
 

Health Occupations honors

A group of high school students competed in the Missouri Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) State Leadership Competition. In the first round, students either took a test or submitted a project to qualify and those who placed in the top 20 of their event advanced to compete in the second round. Nine Pattonville students placed high enough to qualify for round two and six were able to attend the event. Additionally, two students placed after competing in the second round and qualified to compete at the HOSA International Leadership Conference that will take place in Nashville in June. The students who qualified for the international leadership conference were: Kaylee Corona Damian, who earned second place in nursing assisting in the second round at the state competition, and Lydia Fantahun, who earned first place in patient care in the second round at the state competition.

Students who qualified to compete in the second round of the state leadership competition after placing in the top 20 of the first round were: Savannah Branson, Amanda Eberts, Robert Guynes, Janani Kamalakkannan, Shams Khalid, Shelan Khalid and Joselyn Reyes Damian. These students were sponsored by science teacher Jamie Jobe.

Mock Trial Honors

The Pattonville mock trial team competed in the regional finals of the Missouri High School Mock Trial Competition as one of the top 16 teams in the St. Louis area after qualifying in two preliminary rounds of the competition. Several students also earned individual recognition in various rounds of the regional competition. The following students were part of the team and earned individual recognition. Abby Edmonds was named outstanding outstanding witness twice. Also named outstanding witness were Addison Gutschenritter and Hannah Wansing. Rick Derby, Edmonds, Gutschenritter and Shota Kikuchi were named outstanding attorney. Students who were also part of the mock trial team were: Tyler Bass, Ayla Brown, Jordynn Lee, Obadiah McCollum, Anastasiya Richardson, Matthew Schiermeyer, Kayla Watts and Gracie Wilfong. These students were sponsored by English teacher Jennifer Raymond.

Boys Basketball

Students from the boys basketball team received all-conference honors. Evan Longmeyer was named all-conference player of the year. Terrell Lyles was named all-conference second team. Kameron Eleby was named to the all-defensive team. Mason Clay and Cayden Flagg were named all-conference honorable mention. Jordan Redden was selected to receive the all-conference sportsmanship award. The boys basketball team was coached by Travis Harris.

Girls Basketball

Two students from the girls basketball team were named all-conference first team. They were Hannah Fenton and Kennedy Horton. Horton was also named second team for the St. Louis American Girls "Fab Five" All-Stars Team. The team represents a combination of the talented young players in the area along with seasoned veterans. The girls basketball team was coached by Adam Ketcherside with the assistance of Tiffanie Becks.

Boys Wrestling

The boys wrestling team was named conference champions and members of the team earned individual all-conference honors. Josh Schindler qualified for state. Elijah Hopgood, Jace Prabhu and Schindler were named all-conference first team. Damian Rodriguez was named all-conference second team. Students named all-conference honorable mention were Drew Killian and Jordan Whitfield. The boys wrestling team was coached by Brent Mueller with the assistance of Jon Brown and Jake Kim.

Girls Wrestling

The girls wrestling team was named first place conference champions and students were named to all-conference teams. Makayla Gordon, Samantha Mokwa and Aleeya Thompson qualified for the state championship after placing third at districts. Gordon, Mokwa, Tanise Rhodes, Thompson and Kalie Vogel were named all-conference first team. Amalia Bowman was named all-conference second team. Bailey Leedle was named all-conference honorable mention. Lexi Lam was selected to receive the all-conference sportsmanship award. Additional members of the first place conference team were Amal Ali and Belle Bradshaw. The girls wrestling team was coached by Paige Mueller with the assistance of Danelle Emerick.