Post by title1parent on Jul 25, 2011 17:24:57 GMT -5
Trevor Award winners honored at Naperville school
BY JANE DONOHUE
For the Sun
Last Modified: Jul 25, 2011 03:40PM
Thayer J. Hill Middle School students Amy Ahern, Cedric Boring and Angie Lee were selected as recipients of the 23rd annual Trevor Award, established to honor the life of Trevor Tangeman, a Hill student who died in 1987.
Just two days before finishing sixth grade, Tangeman lost his battle with cystic fibrosis. Decades later, the memory of the young boy who loved to learn lives on at the Naperville school.
“I learned that Trevor loved to learn and was friendly to everyone he knew. He loved to have fun every second,” said 12-year-old Amy Ahern. “Winning the Trevor Award meant the world to me.”
Fellow recipient Cedric Boring shared the sentiment.
“When my teachers called me down to receive the award, I was shocked — knowing that my teachers chose me instead of 100 or more students was unbelievable,” Boring said. “Seeing my family there, who took time out of their lives to come and see me get this award, was probably the greatest honor of all. This award will change my life forever. Now I know that if I work hard I can achieve great things.”
Mimi Raczak was Trevor’s math teacher, and fondly recalls the student who left an impression on all who knew him.
“Trevor was a typical kid in many ways, but he knew he was sick, and wanted to learn everything he could,” she said. “He was unique in that he wanted his homework, and if we didn’t send it, he was asking for it. The fact that this kid wanted to learn until the day he died left such an impact on us that we wanted to do something to honor his memory.”
Raczak said the Trevor Award was established in 1988, and is presented each year to one student from each of Hill’s sixth-grade teams. The criterion for the award matches the boy it’s named for: someone who displays a love for learning, for learning’s sake; and someone who shows kindness to others at all times.
“The school has done such a nice job over the years of maintaining the tradition,” she said. “It’s a very nice ceremony and we talk to the kids about what it was like to have him in class and what a cool kid he was.”
Each year, Trevor’s dad, Roger, attends the end-of-year ceremony to personally deliver the Trevor Award. The father, a retired teacher from Jefferson Junior High School, said being part of the annual event is extremely gratifying.
“How many other kids are remembered at their middle school 23 years later?” said Tangeman, 72. “It is tremendously rewarding to relive the life of our child through the other children each year, and through their parents. It is such a neat program and I am honored to be a part of it.”
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Copyright © 2011 — Sun-Times Media, LLC
BY JANE DONOHUE
For the Sun
Last Modified: Jul 25, 2011 03:40PM
Thayer J. Hill Middle School students Amy Ahern, Cedric Boring and Angie Lee were selected as recipients of the 23rd annual Trevor Award, established to honor the life of Trevor Tangeman, a Hill student who died in 1987.
Just two days before finishing sixth grade, Tangeman lost his battle with cystic fibrosis. Decades later, the memory of the young boy who loved to learn lives on at the Naperville school.
“I learned that Trevor loved to learn and was friendly to everyone he knew. He loved to have fun every second,” said 12-year-old Amy Ahern. “Winning the Trevor Award meant the world to me.”
Fellow recipient Cedric Boring shared the sentiment.
“When my teachers called me down to receive the award, I was shocked — knowing that my teachers chose me instead of 100 or more students was unbelievable,” Boring said. “Seeing my family there, who took time out of their lives to come and see me get this award, was probably the greatest honor of all. This award will change my life forever. Now I know that if I work hard I can achieve great things.”
Mimi Raczak was Trevor’s math teacher, and fondly recalls the student who left an impression on all who knew him.
“Trevor was a typical kid in many ways, but he knew he was sick, and wanted to learn everything he could,” she said. “He was unique in that he wanted his homework, and if we didn’t send it, he was asking for it. The fact that this kid wanted to learn until the day he died left such an impact on us that we wanted to do something to honor his memory.”
Raczak said the Trevor Award was established in 1988, and is presented each year to one student from each of Hill’s sixth-grade teams. The criterion for the award matches the boy it’s named for: someone who displays a love for learning, for learning’s sake; and someone who shows kindness to others at all times.
“The school has done such a nice job over the years of maintaining the tradition,” she said. “It’s a very nice ceremony and we talk to the kids about what it was like to have him in class and what a cool kid he was.”
Each year, Trevor’s dad, Roger, attends the end-of-year ceremony to personally deliver the Trevor Award. The father, a retired teacher from Jefferson Junior High School, said being part of the annual event is extremely gratifying.
“How many other kids are remembered at their middle school 23 years later?” said Tangeman, 72. “It is tremendously rewarding to relive the life of our child through the other children each year, and through their parents. It is such a neat program and I am honored to be a part of it.”
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Copyright © 2011 — Sun-Times Media, LLC