Saint Peter High School's annual Senior Awards Night was held on May 29 at the SPHS Performing Arts Center with numerous awards, honors, and scholarships announced in front of a large crowd of students, staff, parents, family and friends.

A big part of the evening is the awarding of scholarships through the St. Peter-Kasota Dollars for Scholars Chapter as well as several other scholarships that were presented as well.

“This year we awarded 75 scholarships totaling $48,700 to 71 students (through the Dollars for Scholars program)” Tracey Peymann, St. Peter Kasota Dollars for Scholars Chapter president, said. “We had 40 different donors provide 50 of the 75 scholarships and the remaining 25 were awarded from our General Fund (money raised by our annual phone-a-thon). We also had one new business, AmericInn, sponsor a new $500 scholarship.

“This summer, the application for our newest scholarship, the Roger & Sharon Bakken/Scholarship America Renewable Scholarship, will be available to St. Peter graduates who have completed one year of post-secondary education. This renewable award will increase for up to three years.”

In addition to the Dollars for Scholars scholarships, there are other miscellaneous scholarships along with awards, and honors handed out throughout the event to a very-deserving SPHS senior class.

One of the other highlights of the Senior Awards Night is the annual awarding of the Al and Cathy Annexstad Hope and Inspiration Scholarship, which was awarded to Ashley Sosa by Zack Haas on behalf of the Annexstad Family Foundation.

One of the other highlights of the Senior Awards Night is the annual awarding of the Al and Cathy Annexstad Hope and Inspiration Scholarship, which was awarded to Ashley Sosa by Zack Haas on behalf of the Annexstad Family Foundation. The scholarship award is for $5,000 per year over four years. 

Click HERE to see a complete list of awards and scholarship winners from Senior Awards Night.

The Work Skills Competition, presented by the Mankato Area CTIC, is an annual event for High School students to showcase their application, interviewing and problem solving skills. This year's competition was held at South Central College and had over a 150 students registered from 10 area school districts.

Students, including several from Saint Peter High School, compete in four areas: Problem Solving, General Workplace Knowledge, Applications, and Interviewing where they are judged by over 40 local business owners/professionals on their appearance, the thoughtfulness of their answers, confidence, tone, etc.

SPHS District had four bronze medal winners (AJ Mellen, Alexis Hutchins, Najma Abdi, and Janaea Williams), one silver medal winner (Paige Robb), and one gold medal winner (Matt Johnson) who had the third highest score out of the whole competition!

Funds to be used to purchase CellSlip pouches for each classroom

Saint Peter High School has received a $3,025 grant from the Mankato Clinic Foundation to be used for purchasing CellSlip pouches for each of the classrooms in the building.  

CellSlip pouches block all cellular, wifi, and Bluetooth signals for a cell phone that is placed inside and it is sealed. The pouches are made using an RFID blocking material which lines the pouch and blocks all signals trying to access the cell phone inside the pouch.

“There will be a container with 32 pouches placed in each classroom at the high school next year,” Kelly Jensen, SPHS social worker, said. “Teachers who have already heard about this are very excited.”

“We are not making it mandatory that teachers use the CellSlip pouches. We want to make them available for our teaching staff to use if they so choose. Americans, on average, check their phone every 12 minutes and they are often a major distraction in the classroom.   These pouches will help take some of the pressure off teachers of having to take a student’s phone away from them, if necessary. We also hope it helps encourage our students to become more engaged in their classes and in social situations.”

The Mankato Clinic Foundation provides grants once a quarter to organizations and initiatives that promote and improve community health and wellness in the communities they serve. The organizations that receive funding are living out the Foundation's mission with the work they do and the Mankato Clinic Foundation is proud to support them.

The physicians at the Mankato Clinic provide the majority of the Foundation funding as a means to give back to the community by providing support to organizations which strive to improve health and wellness. Grants are awarded on a quarterly basis and are considered only through the application process.

About the Mankato Clinic Foundation

The mission of the Mankato Clinic Foundation is to encourage and support the health and well-being of our community through initiatives that promote and improve community wellness. Annual initiatives made possible by the Mankato Clinic Foundation include community grants, scholarships for students pursuing careers in health, Boys and Girls Clubs of Mankato, First Steps to promote healthy pregnancies and healthy babies, and ImPACT concussion management for school and youth athletes.

 

Thirty-eight new members of Saint Peter High School’s chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS) were inducted at a special ceremony Monday evening (May 20) at the SPHS Performing Arts Center.

The ceremony included a special ‘Welcome’ message from Jana Sykora, SPHS counselor, and the Sponsor’s Message from Annette Engeldinger, SPHS principal.

After senior NHS members Anja Dulin and Grace Werner provided information on the history and future of the SPHS NHS Chapter, four other senior members reviewed the qualifications for membership -- Madison Kisor (Qualifications), Yana Burgess (Scholarship), Kayley Ronnkvist (Leadership), Kylie Grack (Service), and Josh Ellerbeck (Character).

Senior Emily Peterson and junior Allison McCabe then announced each of the 32 new inductees which was followed by the ceremonial lighting of the NHS Candles, under the direction of Isaac Peterson. During this time, the new inductees recited the NHS pledge: “I pledge to uphold the high purposes of the National Honor Society to which I have been selected; I will be true to the principles for which it stands; I will be loyal to my school; and I will maintain and encourage high standards of scholarship, leadership, service, and character.”

Senior Sophia Lee provided the closing remarks for the evening which was followed by the processional for the NHS membership.

2018-19 SPHS NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY CHAPTER
(* - denotes new inductee)

SENIORS
Yana Burgess
Kaiden Burmeister*
David Doherty-Bohn
Anja Dulin
Liliana Elofson
Benjamin Epper
Claudia Giedd
Kylie Grack
Adeline Guappone
Rebecca Johnson
Kiera Krueger
Sophia Lee
Lauren Mayer*
Bailey More
Claire Nuessmeier
Emily Peterson   
Isaac Peterson
Marlen Ramirez
McKenna Reese
Jade Reicks
Kenneth Ringler*
Kayley Ronnkvist
Caitlin Salfer   
Signe Tyson-Alger
Jacey Welp
Amelia Wernsing
Xeanna Willaert
Mackenna Zelenka

JUNIORS
Ella Boomgaarden
Adrianne Brock
Chloe Buffington  
Amelia Carlson*
Michael Connor*
Harrison Dean
Joshua Ellerbeck  
Katherine Engeldinger
Noah Faulstich*   
Lauren Feder    
Wareke Gillette
Samantha Hofferbert
Elijah Hunt
Rahma Jamac
Carson Kennedy*
Madison Kisor
Aubry Landsom
Isabelle Lind
Milena Lund
Allison McCabe
Michael Moline*
Daniel Nadeau
Jaden Neubauer*
Ethan Niemeyer*
Wyatt Olson*
Maggi Pierret
Reese Portugue
Aileen Rueda
Nicole Schilling
RaeAnne Smit
Matthew Springer*
Gloria Toupence
Grace Werner
Gabriel Wilson*

SOPHOMORES
Madison Abels*
Obet Alcantara Alvarez*
John Borgmeier*
Ella Gilbertson*
Haydon Grams*
Ethan Grant*
Mia Hansen*
Rahima Jamac*
Emma Johnson*
Morgan Kelly*
Audrey Kennedy*
Vanessa Krueger*
Jack Leonard*
Anna LoFaro*
Kelson Lund*
Elizabeth Mitchell*
Madison More*
Lauren Niemeyer*
Elizabeth Orth*
Breeley Ruble*
Emily Salfer*
Miranda Seham*
Zachary Taylor*
Konrad Wernsing*

Project was part of district internship program and FFA project

Restoring an antique tractor may seem like quite an undertaking for a couple of high school seniors, but for two driven Saint Peter High School students like Cole Deegan and Mitchell Pettis it was a labor of love that resulted in an experience they will not soon forget.

Deegan and Pettis restored a 1936 Farmall F20 tractor for Deegan’s grandfather (Phil Deegan), which he had purchased from a farmer friend in Le Sueur County a couple years ago. They completed it in time to show it at the recent Minnesota State FFA Convention, held April 19-21, and their finished project received rave reviews.

“About a year ago, Mitch and I started talking about restoring an old tractor and I knew my Grandpa and, who collects them, had bought five of them from a guy he knew recently, and the Farmall we chose was in good enough shape to restore,” Deegan said. “We had it on display by the entrance into the Career Fair at state convention, and we got a lot of compliments about it.”

“We worked with Mr. (Michael) Reeser to set things up through the district’s internship program to begin working on it last fall during first semester under his guidance,” Pettis said. “We continued working on it through the rest of winter and into spring as part of an FFA project.”

“These two young men are willing to work and learn while completing a job correctly,” Reeser said. “With any project there are moments of questioning, ‘What are we doing?,’ but this does not phase Cole and Mitchell, they regroup and just move forward. With that commitment I knew this project would been seen through to the end. Working on a piece of machinery that is 84 years old lends itself to some unique challenges, but the boys found or created the resources, material, and parts to finish the tractor. I truly enjoyed working with and guiding these two talented young men and hopefully ignited or fueled an existing passion for restoring our past. It is a very rewarding process to help share the past with people.”

The two used the automotive shop at SPHS for a lot of the mechanical work and machining work. They also used space and equipment at their own homes when needed.

“We had a nice little corner of the school’s shop set up for our project, which was great,” Deegan said. “Mr. Reeser was such a big help, too, with his knowledge and expertise.”

“It was nice to have a facility like we have here at school, and we spent a lot of time in the shop on this project,” Pettis said. “It was great to have access to the press, lathe, and the Bridgeport equipment here at school, which we put to good use.”

The two of them worked long hours throughout the school year and set a goal to have it done by state convention. They were fortunate to be able to find some of the parts needed for the restoration, and they also made some of the parts here at the SPHS shop. About the only trouble they encountered was finding paint to match the original color of the tractor,

They were able to get it up and running and ready for painting the week before they were to transport up to the St. Paul to put it on display.

“As we were getting close to state convention, I was talking to my dad about how close we were getting to being done, but I also had some concerns about finishing it on time,” Deegan said. “Well, my dad had a real heart-to-heart with me and he stressed it wasn’t a matter of if it would get done, but rather that it had to get done. Hearing that really helped keep us on track.”

“Once we got it ready to paint, we knew we wanted it to really look great, so we had a friend of our’s, Cody Paul (2018 SPHS grad), do the painting,” Pettis said. “He’s in the auto body program at SCC (South Central College) and did a great job for us.”

Deegan and Pettis have a busy summer planned for the tractor with plans to display it at the Nicollet County Fair and Minnesota State Fair later this summer. This tractor will now be entered into the National FFA Tractor Restoration Program sponsored by Chevron. Deegan and Pettis will complete a detailed presentation including information on all phases of the restoration process. If the tractor advances to National Convention the two will present their project to the national judges in October.

“The St. Peter school, community, and families should be proud of this outstanding finished project that truly represents the talents and work ethic of these students,” Reeser said. “To find a quality restored 1936 F20 in its proper color and on rubber is truly a great visual for us tractor people that have only seen black and white photos!

Deegan, whose future plans include getting involved in the family business, Deegan Construction, enjoyed the restoration project so much, he hopes to restore a classic car some day. Pettis, who will attend South Central College for civil engineering, really enjoyed the project as well and also has a job with APT Machining, where he puts those skills to good use.