The 2018-2019 Academic Awards Raffle was held May 22 and was a huge success. Mrs. Stewart said, "Usually, at the conclusion of the ceremony I tell my Dream Team comprised of Mrs. Merrell, Mrs. Waid, Mrs. Flores and Mrs. Lin to go ahead and take the rest of the month off and we will start working on next year's ceremony in June. Sometimes, if they aren't too tired, they laugh - however, I'm not joking."
This year we had over 200 gifts and prizes available for the 150 kids who qualified. Stewart said, "There is neither a clearance aisle in a 3 county area that I am not well associated with nor is there a coupon that goes to waste. We also had some very generous donations from staff members and they are also listed in the program as donors. In addition, I would like to thank Mark Flegal who makes things happen on the fly when we need it.
Mr. Beltrondo and Ms. Molyneux graciously spent first block helping arrange and sort gifts baskets and prizes. Ross Matteson has a few private donors who contribute to the program due to his relationship with them. He also handles video/audio details in the raffle. Ms. Rondinella and Mrs. Miles both have come in clutch this week helping with last second printing, copying and assembling of programs and invitations."
Pam Murphy from the Fully Equipped team donated ALL of the cookies for the program. That would be impressive enough but she baked them herself. She saw Jacob enter the room and recognized him from elementary school.
One of the donors, Mrs. Stewart's mom, travels all of the way from Gnadenhutten to watch the event just because she loves the reaction of our students as they interact throughout the raffle. The student in the picture with Stewart's mom is another outstanding example of a Viking. The student told Stewart's mom that she chose the art basket as a gift for her brother. We have many students who make selections as either surprises for a sibling or items that can be used by their families which says a lot about the caliber of student who is invited to attend.
Also, thanks to Mrs. Dine for taking pictures of the students at the prize table and getting a link out to the staff so quickly.
Mrs. Stewart would also like to thank some of the student helpers. Of course, Andreas Brown and Chevy Lockard who have helped with organizing for the past month. They also keep inventory of the prizes that are kept under lock and key all year and provide the muscle for set-up and tear-down. Tyler Santacroce, Angela Morales-Perez and Aylena Rush also helped with set-up and with check-in. The Anime Club, under the guidance of Rondinella, stuffed 150 Viking cinch bags with lanyards and pop sockets which were then presented to each student as they entered the LEI room.
Finally, thanks to Mrs. Merrell for doing a great job as emcee. I believe she starts writing her dad jokes for the event over Christmas break. The kids, however love it and she does a fabulous job building up to the reveal of the laptop winner.
Stewart said, "I hope I did not miss anyone as I truly appreciate everyone who had a hand in this. And to my team, you have 9 glorious days to relax before we start on the 2020 event."
