I’d like to announce and congratulate Alexis Bartles, a senior at Tehachapi High School, as the November Student of the Month. Thanks to all the teachers who took the time to write in and nominate their students this month. There were many worthy entries so it wasn’t an easy decision, but Alexis’ tenacity and dedication really stood out to me. You can read more about her in the entry sent in by her teacher, Danielle Evansic, below:
Alexis is a senior at Tehachapi High School in Tehachapi, California. She is an outstanding scholar, tutors children at all grade levels, and is an integral member of our award winning robotics team. Until her junior year, Alexis was in the running for valedictorian. Unfortunately, she was sidelined by debilitating migraines which interrupted her studies, dissolved friendships and forced her entire family to change routines to accommodate her needs. With the same drive she used to achieve academically, Alexis has reorganized her life to help her be successful despite the oft-occurring migraines. Although she is no longer in the running for valedictorian, she has A’s in all her classes and is the lead programmer for the robotics club.
This month, she spent countless hours (on top of those needed for her rigorous academic classes) volunteering by helping my freshman engineering class program their entry in a national competition. The freshmen were unable to learn how to write code in such a short time period, but she taught them portions of code and the logic behind them, helped them understand the necessary steps for a completely autonomous satellite to function in a three minute competition, and wrote their program as they formulated it. She is now the team lead for a small group of students that is running an Eco-Challenge between the school sites of our school district in an effort to reduce energy usage. Students with less difficulties complain about being asked to do much less than what Alexis does on a regular basis. She is an inspiration to other students and the adults that get to know her.
Alexis will be awarded a gift basket with the following contents:
H&S Products
Yellow Terrible Towel
Pink Terrible Towel
Nike Pack
Steeler Fleece
Signed 8×10
Signed Jersey
Female Signed Jersey
Signed Authentic Steeler Football
Beats by Dre Headphones
32 GB wifi iPad w/ case
Steeler beanie
Steeler Necklace key chain
If your nominee didn’t win, don’t give up. We’ll be running this contest once a month, so keep an eye out in December for the next contest and continue to send in your nominations. Also, be looking out for the winner of this month’s Citizen of the Month winner to be announced very soon.
Thanks again. It was a joy reading about some truly inspiring students, and I look forward to reading about more of them in the months to come.
God bless,
Troy
Jon Ostrander
I’d like to congratulate Alexis Bartles as well. My daughter is 7 years old and has always been a straight A student. I hope she too will be inspired by Alexis’ contributions and dedication. Very impressive. Also, thank you Troy P. for your outstanding efforts and contributions as well!!!
GO STEELERS!!!!
Kimberlee Sang
Aloha my name is Kimberlee and I would like to know how we nominate a student for this award? And Congratulations to Alexis on proving that even thru medical issues you can prevail and do your best we need more students like you!!! Aloha and Blessings to all.
Cathy Seach
How do you nominate someone for your prestigius award Troy.
Stacie
How do I nominate my daughter for Student of the month? Congratulations to the current student of the month!!
Janet
I was wondering doe the student have to be a high school student or can it be a college student too? Congratulations to Alexis!
Danielle Evansic
Thank you so much for awarding this awesome recognition to Alexis! We surprised her today in our engineering class and presented the basket and your congratulations to her. The entire class was so proud of her and so excited that you chose one of our students for the honor of being the very first Student of the Month! We invited her parents and her brother to come to the presentation and it was very moving.
Thank you again for honoring Alexis and for giving us all the opportunity to tell you about so many wonderful students throughout this country.
Janice Merritt
What a great story! Congratulations Alexis! And thank you, Troy, for such an inspiration!
Anthony
I was so proud when I found out Alexis won this prestigious award! Its a fantastic achievement earned by an extremely deserving individual. She’s gone through a lot, but she’s always pushed through and I was absolutely euphoric to hear about this!