At the Washington Court House City Schools Board of Education November meeting, Superintendent Tom Bailey honored three students for excellence.
The first award presented for excellence went to senior Keiya Satoh. Satoh was born in Japan and enrolled in WCHCS in 2005. He is an active member of several musical and athletic organizations, however his recognition on Monday derived from his service.
Even though Satoh is a native speaker of Japanese, he is extremely proficient in English and has even excelled in German as well. During this school year, he has devoted much time to create after school activities for English Language Learners (ELL) to prepare for the American Institute for Research (AIR) Testing.
All students must take standardized AIR Tests, and there are no exceptions for ELL Students. To help the new Blue Lions who do not have much grasp on the English language yet, Satoh wrote instructions in Japanese to help these students understand the activities related to the test. Satoh also has engaged many ELL Students from Japan with tutoring after school.
While he maintains a busy schedule himself, Satoh has taken time to help other students with their challenging transition into a new language and culture.
Junior Kameron Morris was honored for his athletic excellence. As a captain for Blue Lion Cross Country (BLXC), Morris set the bar high by winning the inaugural Frontier Athletic Conference (FAC) in the men’s division.
In addition to being named All-FAC, Morris went on to be named as All-District and qualified for the regional tournament where he placed 46th out of 181 runners. BLXC is excited to have their captain return and to see Morris grow to achieve excellence next season.
Senior Maddy Garrison was also awarded for her athletic excellence. Garrison has developed into quite an exceptional runner during her cross country career.
This year, Garrison was named individual champion of four cross country meets this fall. Along with teammate Kameron Morris, she too was the inaugural FAC champion in the Women’s Division. Garrison placed 17th of 153 runners at the regional tournament and qualified to run for the state championship, where she placed 53rd of 179.
To cap off a stellar season, Garrison will become a member of the Thundering Herd as she continues her cross country career at Marshall University next year. Her performance in competition and her personality has inspired many Little Lions to show interest in running, showing an exciting future for BLXC.
On behalf of WCHCS, Superintendent Bailey thanked these fine students for their exceptional work representing the Blue Lion family.
