Hononegah sophomores recognized for kindness to incoming freshmen

Hononegah Community High School currently has a total of 41 clubs and activities groups or organizations which covers a wide range of  different interests and talents.

Five of these include Student Council members who represent a Main Council and each class year of HCHS.

At the Board of Education meeting on Oct. 15 the members of the sophomore Student Council leaders were recognized for extending kindness.

HCHS Principal Chad Dougherty opened by saying, “ Tonight we celebrate a group a group of students who have demonstrated exceptional citizenship and leadership.”

Class of 2028 leaders Malakhi Hilton, Ellery Cass, Haily Jang, Payton Grady, Grace McLarty, Bennett Rasmussen, Chase Murdoch, Tyler Nguyen, and Elijah Smith each took part in making a difference for other students.

Mrs. Kimberly Zdobylak, the class sponsor along with Miss Kate Hansen, joined the students as they were being recognized.

Principal Chad Dougherty said, “This group of students is being recognized late for something they did months ago."

"Ms Z approached me last spring about the students wanting to create gift bags to be distributed to the incoming freshmen, the Class of 2029. They have just been freshmen themselves. We coordinated with Ms Z to be able to give them the opportunity to do this on the first day of school."

Every freshman walked out not only with a Chromebook and a schedule but also walked out with these gift bags put together by this group of dedicated young leaders, many of whom are also mentors in our SOAR (Students Offer Assistance and Resources) program, and leaders in our fine arts department and clubs and activities.

Dougherty expressed thanks to this group, both personally and publicly for their commitment and dedication.

Mrs. Zdobylak said, “This group really wanted to give back to the community and they wanted to do something special, something unique. That is when we came up with doing something for the upcoming freshmen. Just like Mr. Dougherty said, it can be really daunting coming in on that first day.

From what I've heard on that first day the incoming freshmen were actually pretty ecstatic to receive those goodie bags. It was something they weren't expecting and no one really knew they were coming except for us. It was a really nice gesture.”

Dougherty said, “Logistically that is 500 bags that were distributed in all of the classrooms.
The list of things you did to make this happen was pretty impressive.
My thanks to you for embracing two really important things.

First of all, “We are “One Hononegah”, one act of kindness from a group of kids made a huge difference on the first day of school for our incoming freshmen.

Secondly, Hononegah is where you belong. Those kids will feel that belonging because you chose to put in that time and effort to put together that gift.”

Each of the sophomore Student Council leaders who were recognized were given a certificate representing their caring actions, which was presented by BOE President, Dave Kurlinkus.

At the August Board of Education meeting, Landon Samuelson, Kennlee Tucker, Tori Imrie, Owen Lynas, Eleanor Fane, Kaitlyn Ogden, Emily Dammon, Maddie Cook, Teagan Alstadt, Tessa Meyers, Layla Buckley, Emma Caver, and Kyliee Brooks were given special recognition for lending a hand of support to new freshmen through the SOAR program.

All of the students in the SOAR program work under the guidance and direction of Advisor Andrea Linder.

The SOAR program's mission is to help welcome freshmen and to support school activities, and has also been involved by organizing events such as Freshmen First Day.