UPDATE: Form is now closed for submissions. Look for announcement of this month’s winner later this month.
Hey everyone,
May is now open for student of the month nominations. If you’ve submitted before, please feel free to submit again, as it never means you’ve been rejected if you didn’t get chosen in a previous month.
Recap of the instructions: Entries are open to all students, K through college. You must be a teacher, and the student you’re nominated must be from your class. Simply fill out the form below fully and completely before end of day, May 7th. Toward the end of the month I’ll recognize the winner with a post on this site, as well as send the student a gift of appreciation.
Look forward to your submissions!
Christopher Olon
I understand that your May nominations are closed, but I was wondering if your June nominations are open? If they are open, I would llike to nominate our son, Christopher Olon, for the June nominations. Chris is a very special young man and lwithout a doubt loves the game of football and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He always goes beyond himself in whatever he does and doesn’t complain (Chris has several medical problems that have arisen in the past few years – ever since he had a concussion from one of his football games with Linesville, PA). Chris is a junior at Cambridge Springs High School in Cambridge Springs, PA (about 2 hours from Pittsburgh, PA). Our school district (Penncrest) requires that all seniors do a Senior Project to graduate and Chris has chosen to host a 3-day Youth Football Camp for youth between ages 10-13. It will be held on Monday, July 9th thru Wednesday, July 11th, 2012 from 9 AM to 12 PM on Monday and Tuesday and on Wednesday it will be from 9 AM – 1 PM with an Awards Ceremony from 12 PM – 1 PM. Chris wrote a proposal and contacated St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to see if they would sponsor him and he received confirmation this past Monday that they would be glad to sponsor him in this project. Now he would like to see if there would be anyone on the Pittsburgh Steelers Team that would be interested in helping out with the camp or make a personal appearance – it would so much to the children here and to the children at St. Jude’s Hospital. Chris has spent so much time on this project (with the full backing of his high school and the school’s football coach) including setting up a 7 on 7 lgame on the last day of camp with awards for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams. He has been asking for donations with all the proceeds going to the children at St. Jude’s Hospital and will be handing out camp tee-shirts and certificates for the participants of the camp. Though I am his mother (Chris and his brother were adopted by us just before Chris was 4 years old and at that time, they both looked just like Cassius Clay). I can’t say enough about Chris as a loving and caring human being. The reason he wanted St. Jude’s to sponsor this Senior Project was because he has seen so many famous football players donating their time and support to children in hospitals who have cancer and other medical conditions, so he wanted to follow their example. I hope you will take all of this into consideration when I ask you to please consider helping Chris out with this camp – you know what your presence and name would mean to Chris, the children participating in the camp and the extra donations that would come in for the children at St. Jude’s. Chris is bound and determined that the Youth Football Camp will be a success, but I know if you made an appearance or helped out – it would be a major success for years to come in our small town. I sincerely believe Chris should be considered for the June nomination if there is one because of his selflessness, concern for others and willingness to reach out to help someone. School wise, Chris has his ups and downs because he has been in and out of the hospitals (Children’s in Pittsburgh included) ever since that football game and has been diagnosed with “conversion disorder” though some doctors feel there may be something that is being missed. Hopefully we will hear from you with a afirmative answer. God bless you and thank you for taking the time to read this two-fold request.
Chris’s mom, Jennifer Olon; (814) 398-2901; 414 Venango Avenue, Cambridge Springs, PA 16403
Carrie O'Brien
Dear Mr. Polamalu
I would like to nominate my two students Glendal Tautua and Lefanoga Manu Tuitoelau for students of any month. They recently made an amazing documentary highlighting the stereotypes that young Samoans face and encouraging them to persue higher education. Their documentary has over 2000 hits on youtube in just a week and their film has been shown at several area high schools and at the University of Washington. Their work is beautiful, powerful and honest. It sheds light on what an amazing culture Samoans have and how much it is a part of who Samoans are. They have made thier Samoan community proud and are really impacting a wide variety of people with this work. They are amazing young men who have overcome significant challenges to get to graduation day and they are going to college in the fall. They will be the first in their families to do so. They are changing their families history and making history all at the same time. These amazing young men deserve to be honored and to be honored by one of their heroes would be amazing. Please consider them as your students of the month for any month and as far as I’m concerned, every month. You can view their amazing documentary on youtube by searching Samoan Youth: Ensuring our sucess. The movie is 12:02 long and was posted by vaunraymond. I am excited for you to see it. Thank you for your time and the wonderful community work you do.