By Staff
Seventh grader Paige Huston, Sister Lakes second grader Melanie Lindel, Union High senior Sarah McCuddy, Justus Gage Inside Track preschooler Brayden Peters, Patrick Hamilton fifth grader Justin Yakim and Kincheloe third grader Enrique Aguirre were honored Monday night by the Dowagiac Board of Education at the middle school.
The school board recognized February Citizens of the Month with Chieftain Hero T-shirts or engraved plaques.
Paige Huston
Paige, 13, lives with her mom, Pauline Fernandez. Mrs. Ennesser nominated her: "The reason I nominated Paige was her wonderful outlook on life. Paige comes down the hall every morning with a smile on her face and a cheerful hello for all of us. She is always positive and a joy to be around. Paige is not only a wonderful and kind person, but puts a lot of effort into her school work as well."
Her favorite class is math. Her favorite teacher is Mrs. Lowe.
Paige enjoys Pokeman games in her spare time.
She would like to be a teacher, but hasn't decided yet where to go to college.
Paige thinks her success is due to the fact that she is nice to people she knows.
Melanie Lindel
Melanie is the daughter of Becky Kelly and Greg Lindel. Melanie has one brother, Daniel.
Melanie loves to do the computer program "Read Naturally" in the computer lab.
She also enjoys doing math, especially practicing her math facts.
She is an avid reader. Her favorite book is "Amazing Bats."
Melanie also likes dancing to "Alabama Gal" in gym and music class.
At home, Melanie does arts and crafts. She is fond of making miniature houses and people.
Collecting Hannah Montana cards is also a favorite pastime of hers. She has 35 cards so far.
Melanie is also part of the Sister Lakes GIrl Scout Troop. She loves to camp with the Scouts and just earned the "snow riding" patch for her uniform.
This summer, Melanie plans on going to Dowagiac District Library to check out books with her friends.
She hopes to do a lot of swimming and riding her bike while keeping up with her reading.
Sarah McCuddy
Sarah is a senior and the daughter of Darren Hoffman and Renee Lenex. Sarah has four brothers and four sisters. She is married to Brandon McCuddy and has a 1-year-old daughter, Hanah. She was nominated by her world studies and STEP teacher, Russ Barnes.
"I could not help but be impressed by the intellectual curiosity, attention to detail on assignments and exemplary academic skills that Sarah exhibits," Barnes states. "Then, add to those attributes the bonus of being extremely polite and respectful to her teachers, ever helpful and caring toward her classmates and always prepared and on task in the classroom and, well, you've got yourself a model student in my book."
Sarah has many accomplishments and interests in her life. She has been active in the Westner's Horse Club in Buchanan, where she earned several honors showing horses.
Sarah has been active as a volunteer in several school and community projects.
Her academic accomplishments include the high school honor roll.
"Rarely have I come into contact with a student as focused and driven toward her future as Sarah," Barnes said. "I see her using her spare time on the Internet, researching various career options and pursuing possible training paths. She's a girl with a plan and she's not afraid to do the work to reach that goal of becoming a neo-natal nurse or midwife."
Brayden Peters
Brayden, a student in Cathy Michaelsen's and Renee Grady's morning Inside Track class, is the son of Amber Dunivan and Benny Peters.
At home, he likes to watch Max and Ruby cartoons and play on the computer with bowling and number games.
Outside, Brayden enjoys riding his bike and running around with his cousin, Dayton.
With warmer weather coming, Brayden is already looking forward to playing baseball and making his first home run.
At school, Brayden makes a variety of different choices every day. He likes building with color blocks shaped like squares and triangles, putting puzzles together, counting numbers with folder games and sorting different shape.
Brayden is a good listener in the classroom and follows class rules independently.
He likes to read books – at home and at school – especially "I Am Not Going to Get Up Today!" by Dr. Seuss.
Brayden likes to make his own snacks and says cereal and milk or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are his favorite foods to eat.
Always a good helper, Brayden likes to be the Room Checker at school so he can "make sure that our room is clean and healthy."
Justin Yakim
"Justin stands out for the following reasons," says teacher David E. Joling. "He is extremely attentive in class, participates in class discussions and asks good questions. When assignments are given, he buckles right down to work and does what needs to be done. He has an enthusiasm for learning that sets an example for the rest of the class. Justin's attendance is excellent, which certainly helps to insure that he is a good student. Justin is well-liked by his classmates and is one of those students that I enjoy seeing every day."
Justin lives with his parents, Chas and Jeff Yakim, two sisters and a dog named Prince.
He enjoys many sports, including football, basketball and baseball.
In his spare time, Justin reads mystery books.
He has traveled to many places, including Hawaii and Mexico.
Enrique Aguirre
A student in Robin Winters' classroom, Enrique is the son of Brigido and Zandra Aguirre. Their family includes three older sisters, Savannah, Keara and Alexis. Brother Brigido ("BJ"), 14, attends DMS.
Enrique is known as a helpful, smart student who loves math and enjoys everything about it.
He will have a lot of fun using his mathematical abilities at Math-a-Rama.
During third grade language arts block, Enrique likes going to stations. Stations include small group instruction, computer lab and/or a work station. Enrique likes to switch from group to group.
When Enrique is not at school he likes playing soccer with his friends.
After college, Enrique would like to pursue a career in crime investigation, solving mysteries with clues.
When asked why he thought he had been selected Citizen of the Month, he said, "Because I do the right things."