A special gathering took place at Impact Institute last Tuesday at 6 PM. The 10 seniors with the highest GPAs were invited to attend a special dinner with superintendent Mrs. Linson, principal Mrs. Longenbaugh, and other EN faculty members. They also brought their parents, a teacher of their choice, and the teacher’s spouse if applicable.

And it was a night that truly honored every person in attendance.

After enjoying a delicious pork chop dinner provided by the students in the culinary arts vocational program, the ten students were introduced one by one by Mrs. Longenbaugh, who highlighted a few things about each of them using a silly survey they took last month. Cassidy Fisher and Jessica Vandiver, for example, would be a cat if they could be any animal because they get to sleep all day.

And that, honestly, is why the night was such a powerful experience for everyone. After Mrs. Longenbaugh introduced each student, he or she took the podium to share some words with everyone in attendance, and each was able to showcase just how unique he or she was.

Because this night, in truth, wasn’t really about grades. Each student shared how their involvement here at East Noble made them the adults they are today. Myah Romer, for example, discovered her love for working with special needs students thanks to her participation in Unified sports, and Reilly Childers went from hating science as a freshman to pursuing a career in it thanks to chemistry teacher Mr. Kline’s inspiring influence.

Here’s a list of the students who attended and the teachers who accompanied them. The students are arranged in order of their class rank:

Kaitlyn Weber – Mr. Rickey
Abigail Peterson – Mr. Kimmel
Michael Lehman – Mrs. Mapes
Elijah Shanton – Mrs. Leslie
Hannah Eickhoff – Mr. Mettert
Cassidy Fisher – Mrs. Mazur
Reilly Childers – Mr. Kline
Anthony Phan – Mr. Muñoz
Myah Romer – Mr. Pepple
Jessica Vandiver – Mr. Liepe

It will be exciting to see where these individuals go in the future!