By James Hanlon
Leader Staff Writer
Members of the class of 2021 gathered in the high school Performing Arts Center the evening of May 17 to received awards recognizing their academic achievements throughout their high school careers.
“You have worked very, very hard across the board, and I don’t just mean your academic achievements,” Principal Steve Wolf told the awardees. Because of capacity limit, only seniors receiving awards were allowed to attend, while parents tuned in through a live feed.
“By nature you are the most involved students in the building. Whether that’s through your extracurriculars, clubs, athletics, playing multiple sports, whether it’s through service to our community, your leadership, you are the pulse of our building. And when we go and talk to others about Oxford Community Schools, you are the students that we think of, the students that are involved every day spending most of their time inside our building.”
What defines these students is that they have taken learning into their own hands. Over the past 14 months of the pandemic, “boy, you all have really brought a new meaning to that phrase, taking learning into your own hands, more now than ever.”
Senior Greg Cook sang the national anthem to start things off.

Department Awards
Each academic department presented an award to their most outstanding student.
Marina Gillett presented the Career and Technical Education Award to Annabelle Murray. “Bella has taken multiple CTE courses and has excelled in the health science programs,” Gillett said. “Last year, during the end of the school year, during Covid, she was one of the few students that actually sat for that national certification and passed. . . She has held a leadership role in (Health Occupations Students of America) as both vice president and president and we are just beyond thrilled for her and congratulations.”
Melissa Gibbons presented the English Language Arts Award to Lauren Schiller, “a student who has demonstrated excellence all throughout her four years here at Oxford High School.” Gibbons witnessed Schiller’s excellence as her supervisor on her extended essay.
Jason Eldridge presented the Science Award to Sophie Boglaev. “This student has gone above and beyond expectations of a science learner in Oxford,” Eldridge said. “This student has taken more than double the number of science courses required for graduation including nearly all IB and AP science classes that we offer. More importantly than the classes themselves, this student has exemplified what it means to think, act and communicate like a scientist.”
Nicole Barnett presented the Math Award to Ben Datsko. “This student has always had a never gives up attitude with everything he’s done, which has made him have such great success throughout his four years at OHS. Specifically this year he wrote an amazing internal assessment in his IB math analysis class. It’s going to be hard to top. Definitely a model paper for years to come.”
Amie Stevens presented three awards for each of the world languages.
The Spanish Award went to Mayli Hurin. “Her enthusiasm and hard work payed off, and she also earned the seal of bi-literacy.”
The Chinese Award went to Ella Frohock, “a student who is a dedicated Chinese language learn who really enjoys learning the Chinese language and culture.”
And, the American Sign Language Award went to Madeline Lovins, “who has gone above and beyond on all of her assignments and made fantastic progress on her ASL signing skills. She has also demonstrated an increase in awareness and understanding of deaf culture, their people, and challenges they experience.”
Kathryn Blaszczyk presented the Individuals and Society Award to Ellie DiMalanta, who excelled in multiple AP and IB social studies courses. “I can tell you, working with her, it is clear that Ellie has a clear drive and determination that is going to take her places in this world and she will take it by storm,” Blaszczyk said.
Jim Gibbons presented the John Philip Sousa Band Award to David Michael. “Our winner started in our program as a saxophone player as a freshman. He didn’t march his freshman year, soon realized what a huge mistake that was, did it in his 10th grade year, and ended up being one of our drum majors this past year. During his 10th year, he switched to bassoon, because we needed a bassoon player, so he basically worked and taught himself to play bassoon and next year he’s going to the University of Michigan as a music education major playing bassoon, so if that doesn’t speak to his dedication and determination, I don’t know what does.”
Marissa Cassano presented the National School Orchestra Award to Aveline Schienke. She has participated in every Michigan Orchestra Association solo and ensemble event, volunteered in the community and as a leader in the Oxford orchestras, and found opportunities outside of school to improve her knowledge and skills at both playing and teaching music.
Melissa Gibbons presented the Yearbook Award to Ellie DiMalanta “who has demonstrated excellence, not only in writing, but definitely in leadership.”

Community Awards
The U.S. Marine Corps. Scholastic Excellence Award went to Seth Palmer and Lauren Schiller. The award recognizes students who went the extra mile both in and out of the classroom. To be eligible for this award, students must be a distinguished scholar, an exemplary citizen and a role model for younger students.
The Marine Corps Distinguished Athlete Award went to Nolan Kutchey, a tennis and baseball player, and Mackenzie Methner, a soccer and basketball athlete. The recipient of this award is not only a superior athlete, but also an exemplary young citizen and a role model for younger students.
The Semper Fidelis Award for Musical Excellence went to Branden Heyza and Sophie Boglaev. This student must have held a first chair in the band, proven capable of performing as a soloist, and recognized as both an outstanding musician and a young citizen.
The Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen Award went to Lauren Schiller. Students are selected by faculty based on the qualities of dependability, service, leadership and patriotism. Schiller’s essay on collaborative action won the local chapter’s round of judging, and is under consideration for a state-level scholarship.

Local Scholarships
Oxford students received over $2.5 million in scholarships this year, it was announced. Here are the local scholarships that represent a portion of that sum.
American Legion Post #108 Scholarship: Janelle Grech, Jordan Hung and Nina Cronenberg
American Auxiliary Scholarship: Adele Crochet, David Michael and Helena Schneider
AMVETS: Nolan Kutchey, Gianna Vanston and Alexis Vue
Helen Smith Award: Elizabeth Hartman
James “Jamie” Charles Scholarship: Greg Cook and Rea Xiong
Oxford Lions Club Randy Monreau Community Service Memorial Scholarship: Megan Griffith and Rea Xiong
Oxford Rotary Club: Jordan Hung and Elizabeth Hartman
Lone Ranger Scholarship: Seth Palmer and Jordan Hung
Addison Township Firefighters’ Scholarship: Alexis Johnson
Lewis Wilson Music Scholarship: David Michael
Oxford Education Association Scholarship: Trent Brown
Oxford Women’s Club scholarships: Sophie Boglaev, Nolan Kutchey, Kylie Rancilio, Jordan Spencer, Connor Vittetoe and Makenna Wilson.
Steven J. Mobely Scholarship: Ben Datsko and Seth Palmer
Pioneer State Mutual Insurance Scholarship: Joe Barnard
Oxford Elementary and Daniel Axford Alumni Scholarship: Nolan Kutchey

Cari and Eric Yankee presented a new scholarship this year: the Lauren Yankee Memorial Golf Scholarship. Their oldest daughter, Lauren, was a 2018 OHS graduate who died unexpectedly in December. “She loved Oxford Schools and played a lot of sports,” Cari said, “but she really found her passion in golf and earned her scholarship to play Adrian College. We wanted to honor her legacy, so with the help of some amazing friends, we started the Lauren Yankee Memorial Golf Scholarship.”
The memorial has raised nearly $13,000 so far. They decided to give six girls from the golf team the first scholarships this year: Janelle Grech, Eryn Petriko, Kate Dietiker, Kayla Acton, Stephanie Gilling and Avery Carty.

International Baccalaureate Diploma
While over 200 students have taken International Baccalaureate Diploma coursework this year, these are the 11 students who have taken an IB class in every subject area and have completed all requirements to remain eligible to receive the prestigious International Baccalaureate Diploma: Ben Datsko, Clare Decker, Ella Frohock, Stephanie Gilling, Nolan Kutchey, Michael McQueen, Ashley Murphy, Lauren Schiller, Alexander Shandilis, Natalie Shefferly and Mikaela Weaver.
“These students have elected to complete extremely rigorous coursework, performed numerous service learning activities and have written high level college research papers over the last two years, not to mention they did all this during Covid stress,” said IB English teacher Melissa Gibbons. “Seeing them at work on a daily basis, I continue to be in awe of their combination of talents and work ethic.”

Seniors graduating with top honors
Students graduating summa cum laude and top scholar received gold honor cords and a top scholar medal: Mikaela Weaver, Alexander Shandilis, Seth Palmer, Annabelle Murray, Ashley Murphy, Emma Long, Mayli Hurin, Riley Hodder, Stephanie Gilling, Ellie DiMalanta, Ben Datsko, Genevieve Dare, Sophie Boglaev, Annastassia Boglaev, Clare Decker, Lauren Schiller.

Bookending his comments from the beginning, Principal Wolf reminded these scholars the message he gave them as freshmen: to be involved, to take advantage of the opportunities they have at Oxford. He was proud to see them take that message to heart. “You’ve developed a lot of strong character traits and especially in the last 14 months, a lot of resiliency,” he said.
“We know it’s been incredibly hard, but we don’t want you guys to forget about all the opportunities that you had here because moving on to your next endeavor, that’s really going to take you into the person that you’re meant to be. Involving yourself, stretching yourself, growing, even taking some risks. Because the difference when you walk out of this building and when you walk out across the stage this Thursday at DTE is that a lot of those opportunities won’t be handed out for you. You’re going to have to do a little more exploring and you’re going to have to do a little more risk-taking.”
But Wolf is not worried about the class of 2021. “If you guys work half as hard as you have here at OHS, moving on beyond this school year, we’re very certain that you all are going to turn into outstanding young adults and that is going to make us really proud.”