Student Achievers Honored at Nazareth School Board Meeting

Student achievers took center stage at Monday’s meeting of the .

The Drama Club and the cast of the musical “Annie,” which opens on May 4, performed several upbeat musical selections from the show to a receptive audience.

Also, the school board and administration honored several individual students, academic clubs and teams for recent achievements. (A list is included below.)

Administrators and board Vice President Linda McDonald -- who chaired the meeting in the absence of board President Lorin Bradley, who was away on business -- sang the praises of the students being honored with almost as much gusto as the cast of “Annie” sang its songs.

“More importantly than anything else, they are great young men and women,” said Alan Davis, principal of .

McDonald told Davis, the students and their faculty advisers that the board should thank them for their efforts and contributions, rather than the reverse.

Students, clubs and teams honored included:

• , a senior who was selected Miss Southeastern Pennsylvania and will compete for the Miss Pennsylvania title next month. Correll said she will be the youngest participant in the state pageant.

• , a senior who was named one of the top runners-up in the 2012 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards in Pennsylvania. This is the fourth consecutive year Ohrwashel received this award in recognition of her community service efforts, which include raising to help seriously ill children via the Make-a-Wish program.

• Patrick Phillips, a junior, who was selected to receive the Dwight D. Eisenhower Leadership Award from the West Point Society. The award is presented to high school juniors “who demonstrate the qualities and characteristics of leadership and integrity,” according to a school district news release.

• The staff of the high school yearbook, The Comet. The yearbook staff received the “Best of the Best--Most Popular Yearbook” award from Jostens, a company that produces high school yearbooks and memorabilia. The staff's seniors include Maria Callie, Carrie Eager and Ohrwashel.

• Debate Team, which placed second in the LVIA this year. The debate team includes senior Devon Clifton.

• Mock Trial Team, which won local, district and regional competitions en route to a sixth-place finish at the state-level competition. What made that truly remarkable, according to Davis: The Nazareth mock trial team is in its first year of competition. Seniors on the team are Clifton and Matthew Rohn.

• Model United Nations Team, which won a school-record 10 medals at this year’s LVIA competition, held last month. Rohn also participates on this team.

• Science Olympiad Team, which placed 11th at a regional competition in Kutztown last month. Seniors on the team include Rachel Kosciusko, Andrew Kowalczyk, Sean Nicholson and Rohn.

The Comet yearbook faculty adviser is Shenon Gerhard. Tina Hirsch and Doug Myers serve as advisers to the Science Olympiad Team. Patricia Cunningham advises the Debate, Mock Trial and Model United Nations teams.