Pierce High Holds Academic Assembly
by MacKenzie Peters
The annual academic awards celebration was held at the Pierce High School gym on Monday, May 20.
The assembly opened with a presentation by counselor Mrs. Mary Birch and the digital citizenship team, which urged students to make smart decisions online as they carry out their summer. Next up came the awards. Journalism teacher Melissa Legate granted multiple students with awards for their hard work throughout the school year. Crys Bauermeister followed her, awarding students for their participation in quiz bowl and the NECC academic contest. Three physical science students were given awards for placing in the top twenty in their paper airplane throwing contests. Next, Mary Birch and Shelly Adams gave awards to the peer tutors who mentored students throughout the year. Math, science, and MAP testing awards were given out by Melinda Stelling, Grant Doerr, and Deb Koehlmoos to students who took five or more semesters of math in high school, earned top scores on the MAP or ACT test, or stood out in the math and science fields at the junior and senior grade level. Students who made NSAA academic all-state were recognized by Darren Sindelar. Following was Treva Dostal, who mentioned her robotics members. LuAnn Prahl showed her appreciation for her office aides, as well as the students who had perfect attendance for the duration of the year. To finish off the awards, principal Mark Brahmer acknowledged all of the seventh, eighth, and ninth-grade students who made Principal’s Honor Roll and the sophomore, junior, and senior students who ended the year with a 3.5 GPA.
The last part of the assembly consisted of the talent show. The Pierce High jazz band opened the show, performing two songs with Greta Guercilena on vocals. Next was the lip-sync battle, put on by the journalism staff. The freshmen group, consisting of thirteen participants, performed a routine to a mashup of three different songs. The sophomore group, which was composed of fourteen students, performed a short routine of nine songs. The winners, chosen by junior high students, were the sophomore class.