Temecula Valley Elks Hosts Middle School 'Student of the Year' Presentations

From the Temecula Valley Elks:

The Temecula Valley Elks held their 18th annual middle school “Student of the Year” Presentations at Van Avery Prep School. Twenty-nine students were recognized from five schools in the Murrieta area. Each middle school was asked to submit applications for three females and three males. Each application included a 300-word essay describing why he or she should be selected as the student of the year from his or her school. A committee of Elks judged the applications according to their academic achievement, citizenship, involvement in school activities and leadership activities. Speakers during the evening were Ken Hauer, president of the Temecula Valley Elks, Jimmie Spezia, California-Hawaii Elks trustee and district leader, and Traci Wright, marketing director for Chick-fil-A and past Middle School Awards recipient. The top female and top male from each school received a gift card from Barnes & Noble in the amount of $50. All the candidates received a framed Certificate of Achievement from the Temecula Valley Elks, an engraved Olympic style medallion medal and coupon from Chick-fil-A.

Calvary Murrieta Christian School winners and runners-up were Samantha Gweltney (runner-up), Lauren Jeremiah (runner-up), Kaelyn McCann (top female), Michael Echan (runner-up), Landon Manka (runner-up) and Isaiah Haney (top male).

Dorothy McElhinney Middle School winners and runners-up were Anna Yang (runner-up), Iris Zietlow (runner-up), Makayla Fick (top female), Cameron Rentie (runner-up), Ethan Evarts (runner-up) and Duncan Chisholm (top male).

Shivela Middle School winners and runners-up were Ashlyn Burnosky (runner-up), Emily Peck (runner-up), Caitlyn Dawson (top female), Austin Bauman (runner-up) and Christopher Jenkins (top male).

Thompson Middle School winners and runners-up were Haley Thomas (runner-up), Sara Bhatt (runner-up), Nicolette Lam (top female), Michael Hewlett (runner-up), Nathan Lopez (runner-up) and Trevor Reese (top male).

Warm Springs Middle School winners and runners-up were Alyssa Kucharyski (runner-up), Morgan Horner (runner-up), Charlyn Miller (top female), Reilly Clements (runner-up), Francis Saspa (runner-up) and Thai Le (top male).