Students Honored for Science, Technology Achievements

Seventeen St. Charles County students were recognized for their achievements during Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) recognition breakfast Friday at the Old Hickory Golf Club in St. Peters.

The event is sponsored by Partners for Progress of Greater St. Charles.

Students recognized at the event were:

• Katy Wilkin, Christian High School
• Michael Frisella, Duchesne High School
• Michelle Pellegrino,
• Tony Ritter, Fort Zumwalt North High School
• Jared Counts,
• Dylan Becraft, Fort Zumwalt West High School
• Levi Morris, Francis Howell Central High School
• Steven Williams, Francis Howell High School
• Alison Von Deylen,
• David Roy, Orchard Farm High School
• Anneka Swinson, St. Charles High School
• Joseph Loser, St. Charles West High School
• Ryan Gaffney, St. Dominic High School
• Kaylyn Bauer, Holt High School
• Samuel Stoner, Timberland High School

Holt High School junior Savannah Est and Bauer also were recognized for placing in the Missouri’s Tri-County Regional Science and Engineering Fair held at St. Charles Community College on Feb. 25.

Est took first place, and will travel to international science fairs in Pittsburgh and Houston with her project, “Optimization of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells." Bauer placed third at the event.

During the event, keynote speaker, Manager John Dansby, told students, “A lot of you have ideas that will change the way we live. I encourage you to continue dreaming.”

He said he started working as a 17-year-old on a GM assembly line in Shreveport, LA while attending school. Along the way he took advantage of some opportunities, but missed others.

“Opportunities are around all the time. The problem is we’re not prepared to take advantage of them,” Dansby said. “But don’t fret about the opportunities that you can’t take advantage of or that pass you by. Look forward to the ones that are coming.”

The Partners for Progress education committee’s focus is to support projects such as robotics, Project Lead the Way and STEM Camp; improve ACT scores and encourage school and business collaboration.