The St. Michael-Albertville High School held its annual academic awards last week, where they honored students who earned academic letters, academic awards from specific departments, and other awards for this unprecedented 2020-2021 school year.
The top honor STMA High School students can receive is the Student of the Year award. Each year, high school staff selects one student per graduating class for this award based on their academic performance, classroom participation, and contributions to the school outside of the classroom. This year’s winners are:
Lillian Covert (grade 9)
Hannah Kvant (grade 10)
Olivia Brill (grade 11)
Ashley Cushman (grade 12)
Additionally, the school announced this year’s Students of Excellence, which honors the outstanding academic success of the senior class’s top four students. For the class of 2021, these students include:
Kaitlyn Braun
Ashley Cushman
Gracine Sime
Cobin Szymanski
Another award given to seniors, the AAA Award, honors two students who excel in academics, athletics and arts. This year, Luke Johnson and Abbylee Maeder took this honor.
For the juniors, the Minnesota State High School League bestows the ExCel Award to two students per high school who are active in school activities, show leadership qualities, and who volunteer in their community. This year’s ExCel Award went to Caden Nordberg and Sydney Rogers.
Last, but not least, the awards ceremony honored Raya Decker, who was a medal recipient for the National Scholastic Art and Writing Contest last winter. Raya’s work, called “Party Animal,” was among the top 1 percent of all submissions for the large contest. Her work was judged on originality, technical skill, and emergence of a personal voice or vision.
Photos from the ceremony can be viewed, downloaded, and/or purchased from the website www.timbykowskiphotography.com.