Gracie Johnson stood out from her peers with her views on peace. Facing a 65-page disciplinary report and chronic school absences, Kourtney Showalter turned her life around. Both students in the ROYALS alternative school program are truly winners for ROE26.
Johnson won first place in the recent 2018 Interfaith Alliance of Macomb Youth Writing Contest in the Jr./Sr. High school division for her piece on "What peace means to me." The students' essays and poems were judged by members of the Macomb Retired Teachers Association based on creativity, originality and personal experience.
Johnson was recognized during the WIU International Bazaar on March 3 on the WIU campus and received a $50 Chamber Certificate prize for her good work. She is in the ROYALS Macomb program under the guidance of Teacher Kim Featherlin, who won a statewide award last year for her excellent instruction.
Showalter won an Outstanding Student Award from the Illinois Coalition for Education At-Risk Youth (ICEARY), and was recognized at the group's recent conference in Bloomington this month.
Instructor Nina Ross in the ROYALS McCall program noted Showalter is a completely different person now from the troubled student with many disciplinary problems and challenges at home who came to the program at the beginning of this year. She changed homes, schools and added her first job at the beginning of the school year -- and has been nothing but a model student and citizen. She went from missing 85 days of school last year to now only missing for an excused absence.
"Kourtney has learned how to handle and appropriately respond to and deal with personal obstacles, improved her attendance dramatically, and been an inspiration to her classmates. When I look at this young lady, I can't believe it is the same girl that had a 65-page discpline report. She has changed so dramatically," Ross wrote in her nomination letter.
Regional Superintendent John Meixner noted both students' stories are heartwarming and an affirmation that the guidance and instruction students receive from the ROE26 ROYALS program is truly life-changing.
"Our teachers and staff in ROE26 work with students every day who have many incredible challenges, yet they know just how to connect with these students and show them a better path," Meixner said. "These awards are a credit to our students, teachers and staff, and how we Champion Our Community in ROE26 every day."
ABOUT ROE26
Led by Regional Superintendent John Meixner, Regional Office of Education #26 represents and serves schools in Fulton, Hancock, McDonough and Schuyler counties in west-central Illinois.