Jeremy Miller, John Hole principal, said the award’s criteria is difficult.
“The kids really have to prove themselves,” he said.
According to the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the criteria for the President’s Award includes grade-point average, high achievement on state or national tests, teacher recommendations and the principal’s approval.
Miller said students at John Hole, like Stingley Elementary, must have a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale, and must score in the 85th-percentile or higher in reading or math on the Iowa Standardized Tests.
Weller is among the schools that also require teacher recommendations.
“It is one that my teachers deliberate on for quite awhile,” Gum said. “We make sure we are picking the students most representative of that quality of excellence.”
Some Centerville elementary schools base the award on a student’s work in fourth and fifth grades, while others base it on fifth grade alone.
Students earning the President’s Award receive a certificate, and a letter from President Barack Obama.
“It is important that people know that, regardless of people’s political views, it is nice that the office of the president recognizes the good work our kids are doing,” said Stingley Principal Diana Keller. “It isn’t subjective, it is based on the criteria — and it is rigorous criteria.”
Here are the Centerville City Schools fifth-graders who earned the President’s Award for Educational Excellence for 2009-10:
Cline Elementary School was the one Centerville school that separated winners into Gold and Silver categories.
Gold: Alexandra Bielecki, Michael Daskalakis, Jessie Feilen, Benjamin Kujawa, Madelyn Sawyer, Sarah Siroky, Jack Stafford, Kay Tompkins, Kyle Bates, Payton Carr, Rhea Dhingra, Evan Duffey, David Hancock, Cameron Leigh, Abigail Magoffin, Nicholas Reaman, Madeline Wagner, Madison Banford, Jessica Kimbrell, Cole Rutter, Anna Scholle, Alexander Slicer, Brian Tran, Riley Fessler, Steven Horan, Joshua Kimbrell, Robin Krause, Rose Minton, Jessica Robinson, Andrew Sucato, Erin Brooke, Gabrielle Diaz, Jodie Feilen, Darius Killian, Jonathan Knecht, Tyler Messerly, Maxwell Miller, Shreya Shaw and Noah Evans.
Silver: Anneliese Bohlman, Caroline Ferrazza, Laura Drew, Carly Young, Kelli Chandler, Michael Fried, Colin Neace, Caroline Pierron, Samuel Siegfried, Ashlyn Tate, Ayube Wahdan, Zieneb Wahdan, Sydney Cauper Esmaude, Jason Alexander Stine, Megan Meyer and Maria Pressel.
Driscoll Elementary School: Madison Balsinger, Caleb Burrell, Blake Charlton, Spencer Christian, Caroline Dicks, Cecily Dowd, Christopher Golden, Aiden Grabeman, Tara Hannaford, Drew Harbour, Donald Helfrich, Jami Jensen, Erika Kerr, Lyndsey Kissell, Grace Klepacz, Michael Metry, McKenna Myers, Nathan Rhodes, Conner Root, Allison Rupp, Andrew Samborsky and Kelly Staver.
John Hole Elementary School: Max Amarante, Brendan Apt, Timothy Bentley, Betsy Bogan, Alexandria Bollinger, Jarred Chase, Myah Chrisman, Riley Christolear, Grant Dosland, Nicole Durand, Gabe Edmondson, Ryan Etter, Nate Fullington, Tony Giallombardo, Jacob Gibbs, Megan Golem, Andy Greer, Nathan Hart, Declan Holm, Whitley Houston, Adam Julian, Abhinav Kari, Mike Knauer, Sarah Krach, Megan Kwon, Jacob Lawrence, Michaela Murphy, Dylan Myers, Maggie Nation, Mackenzie Nolen, Kasey Perry, Lizzie Rahn, Isabella Riley, Julia Romie, Matthew Saludo, Ryan Shawler, Jacob Steiner, Eliza Stierle, Gabby Wabler, Grace Weir, Maria Williams, Taylor Willis and Audrey Wire.
Normandy Elementary School: Ashley Amiri, Claire Anderson, Jared Beach, Margaret Curtis, Erik Dodds, Kelly Edsall, Sydney Fowler, John Gabriel, Evan Gramke, Karissa Hodge, Oscar Istas, Erin Jackson, Ahmad Jumper, Marianne Kingrey, Rajiv Kishinchand, Aditya Mahesh, Nadja Marin, Melody Markert, Max McLain, Taran McMillan, Priya Modgil, Joseph Navarra, Marissa Nemeth, Rebecca Seiler, Vidushi Tripathi, Jonathan Vicarel and Valerie Wiseman.
Stingley Elementary School: Marissa Burkhardt, Rachel Corsiglia, Stephanie Cotrone, Erin Damm, Noah Duteil, Ashley Engel, Abby George, Taylor Goetz, Casey Graff, Kevin Hazenfield, Zack Holbrook, Joey Holiga, Parker Huntington, Jared Huntley, Grace James, Paige Kelley, Mason Kilroy, Matt Kitzman, Thomas LaMon, Charlie Lynch, Andrew Marsee, Georgia McFarland, Erik Meiners, Jesse Melville, Maya Perlmutter, Clark Ramsey, Doug Schlagheck, Bryan Sharkey, Daniel Strayer, Zach Whitaker and Elora Wilkins.
Weller Elementary School: Abigail Almonrode, Abigail Lokai, Alexa Fillingim, Alyssa Schafer, Aman Ahmed, Amy Wen, Anand Shah, Andrew Polk, Anita Ambalavanan, Audrey Snyder, Avery Brown, Ben Karpinsky, Blythe Wesney, Chetan Nambiar, Chloe Ramsey, Christopher Markham, Connor Schock, Craig Jasin, Deborah Liberman, Deirdre Flood, Diya Singhvi, Emily Molen, Emma Bohaboy, Ethan Kasprovich, Gabrielle Burkett, Gabrielle Delghingaro, Grace Geise, Grant Lugo, Ishaan Sandhir, Jacqueline Fox, Jenna Tracy, Jessica Barton, Karan Verma, Kathleen Zeller, Kelsee Etmans, Kiersten Mackintosh, Kriiti Sharda, Krishna Patel, Kristin Stein, Kriti Agrawal, Kurt Duncan, Kyle Wenk, Lan-Ahn Doan, Luke Weich, Luna Eissing, Margeaux Lim, Mason Kuhr, Matthew Hippenmeyer, Michael Li, Michael Markham, Natalee Cloud, Noah Wise, Olivia Baker, Raahim Bashir, Riley Laipple, Robert Burleson, Robert Wickline, Roshni Wani, Sachin Shankar, Samantha Loechelt, Samuel Lash, Sarah Parrott, Sophia Rosado, Thomas Allen, Victoria Harrison and Zuha Nazir.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7325 or jikelley@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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