Student of the Year nominees
Biographies and photographs submitted
Katie Anderson
Katie Anderson has had four memorable years at South Huron District High School.
Academically, Katie has been on the honor roll every year. This year as part of her biology class she was able to participate in the Envirothon, and after winning Huron Perth, went on with her team to take part in the provincial competition.
Katie joined the intermediate band in grade nine and has continued to play the tenor sax in the concert and black jazz bands, and wind ensemble. In grade ten she was able to travel with the band to Ottawa, and then to Cleveland in grade eleven.
This year Katie was co-head of SHDHS chapter of Habitat for Humanity. She helped put on two coffee houses, which allowed performers to showcase their talents and raise money for Habitat all at the same time.
Katie’s fondest memories of high school will be her participation in sports. For all of her four years, she was a member of the cross-country, soccer and track teams. This year, she placed sixth at OFSAA for cross-country and is heading to Hamilton this weekend for OFSAA track. In grade ten and twelve, Katie was also a member of the badminton team and placed third this year at Huron Perth in mixed doubles.
Next year Katie is heading to McMaster… where she will hopefully run faster, and pursue a career in science.
Dimitris Fragiskatos
Dimitris Fragiskatos has been attending SHDHS for the past four years. He would like to thank his fellow classmates for his nomination for student of the year.
Dimitris has been involved in many sports at South Huron including badminton (where he quickly learned it was not a sissy sport), tennis, cross-country, basketball and his favourite, soccer. His soccer team, this year, has been especially successful moving on to WOSSA and hopefully OFSAA. Dimitris feels sports have largely influenced his amazing time at South Huron. The coaches of his teams have helped him learn many new skills that he has been able to apply on and off the field. He also enjoyed many quotes from coach Henry Bonsma, including, “ If you want to play like a baby you deserve to be on the bench in your cradle”. Everyone loves the ‘intensity coach’. Dimitris also tried to give something back to the school community and the community at large by being involved with student council and participating in community events. Relay for Life being the favourite.
Another contributing factor to the great time Dimitris has had at South Huron has been his peers. Over the years as he matured and watched his peers mature they continue to share many laughs and enjoy high fives/pounds from each other. His peers have created so many great memories from the start of high school all the way to the near end. He enjoys being able to look back together with these people and consider some of the foolish acts they’ve done and say “Hey it’s cool, it makes a good memory”.
Many great teachers have also contributed to positive memorable moments! Dimitris is happy he can say that even though he sometimes did not focus on his academic work as much as he should have he was still able to create a relationship with his teachers. Relationships that allowed him to visit them during their spare time and have talks and a laugh or two. Dimitris would like to thank all of the great ladies in the office for sharing time with him. He could happily call these moments in the office “bonding moments” rather than “detentions”.
Dimitris is currently working at his family’s restaurant, Kate’s Station, and he also works at Gregus Millworks where the employees there have interesting thoughts on Dimitris’ new haircut.
Dimitris plans to attend Fanshawe College in the fall where he will be taking the Construction Engineering Technology course. Dimitris is the proud son of Jayne and Nick Fragiskatos and he is also proud to be a resident of Hensall.
Dimitris will always remember how South Huron was a great school. Great because of the people he saw everyday, and he wishes the best of luck to all of these people.
Lauren Haberer
Lauren is honoured to have been nominated for Student of the Year this year. Throughout high school, Lauren has taken advantage of many aspects of the “SHDHS experience”. She was a proud panther on the field hockey, volleyball, badminton, and rugby teams, and was especially honoured to travel to OFSAA for field hockey in grade 9. Lauren has been an active member of Student Council, the school bands, the Relay for Life Committee, the Habitat for Humanity Committee, and the Peer Tutoring program.
Next year, Lauren will be attending the University of Ottawa for political science. Looking back over the past four years, Lauren realizes that taking part in these activities has really influenced who she is today. Lauren will miss the friends, teachers, coaches, and extra-curricular activities at South Huron, but is looking forward to beginning a new adventure next year.
Marcus Haccius
Marcus is honored to have been nominated for Student of the Year when South Huron has so many awesome students to choose from. Carpe Diem is one of his favourite phrases and translated means ‘Seize the Day’. Marcus tries to live each day to the fullest by trying new things and new ideas. High school has been an incredible experience for him, and he has enjoyed every minute spent inside South Huron walls.
Many of his fond high school memories will be of the Panther sports teams. Rugby was a new game for Marcus, and he enjoyed learning the rules and slowly reducing the amount of pain he felt after each game. Playing badminton for the school team was a wonderful contrast to rugby, mostly because it placed a net between Marcus and his opponents. He also learned many things through his Reach for the Top experiences, both junior and senior level.
Being on Student’s Council always kept Marcus busy around the school. In the past four years he hasn’t missed many Panther activities, either by organizing or participating in them. These include Terry Fox Runs, Thirty Hour Famines, PAWS Days, gaming tournaments, dances, and many other happening events.
Marcus’ fondest memories revolve around South Huron’s drama program. He enjoyed four years of playing major roles in four different school productions, and is extremely grateful to all the other thespians for making his drama experience a treat.
Next year, Marcus has been accepted into the Beal Musical Theatre Program, and will study there full time. After Beal he plans to attend University, then to pursue a career in dramatic arts.
Marcus thanks all Panthers for four amazing years.
Bryce Halpenny
Being the youngest of three kids, Bryce watched a sister thoroughly enjoy the arts and a brother that thoroughly enjoyed athletics. Bryce decided that he would try to participate in as much school life that South Huron had to offer while maintaining a strong academic standing. This ultimately led to his participation in five bands throughout his high school career. His talent and passion for music was proven when he was asked to play senior band in his second year of high school and lead trumpet in his last two years.
Athletically Bryce has participated in volleyball and badminton and has won four awards in grade 10 and 11. He also participated in a London competitive volleyball league. He has also volunteered at an elementary school volleyball camp for four years held at South Huron. Bryce has been a team player and a competitive athlete each year and athletics has been an important part of his high school life.
Bryce’s extra-curricular activities have made high school life fun and interesting but they never interfered with his academic performance. He maintained honours every year and was top male student one year. Being part of a variety of activities throughout the school has aloud him to have a wide social circle and he is proud of the close friends that he has made in high school. Bryce will be going on next year to the University of Western Ontario for engineering.
Janita Pfaff
Janita Pfaff is happy to be nominated by her peers for Student of the Year. As a panther, she has a diverse profile. Academically, Janita is proud of the honour roll status she has achieved all four years at South Huron District High School. She was an avid member of both the field hockey and rugby teams throughout her high school career, and had the honour of being co-captain of the field hockey team this year. Janita has been an enthusiastic member of the Students’ Council as grade representative in grades nine and ten, as well as Deputy Premier and Formal Chair this year. Janita has also played major roles in the school’s drama productions in grades nine and twelve, as well as sang and played guitar in the Variety Show in grade eleven. She participated on the Envirothon Team that placed first in the Huron-Perth division in her senior year. Outside of school, Janita enjoyed being a member of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Youth Band. She is proud to be employed at the Exeter Villa for over two years. This experience will help her in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Western-Fanshawe this fall. Janita would like to thank the staff, her coaches, and peers at South Huron, as well as her parents, Dennis and Marian, for helping her get the fullest experience at S.H.D.H.S.
Carly Schroeder
Carly is honoured to be nominated for Student of the Year by her peers. Through the years, she has been involved in South Huron’s many activities and clubs. She enjoyed a short stint in rugby, soccer, and OSAID. Carly has contributed to two school productions, “Return to Eden” and “The Variety Show.” She was chosen to attend both the Ontario Educational Leadership Centre and the Rotary’s Seminar for Tomorrow’s Leaders. Throughout her 4 years, Carly has been dedicated to South Huron’s field hockey team, giving her the opportunity to go to OFSAA 1 year, and WOSSA 4 years. Along with this, Carly has earned a place on the Honour Roll and the top mark in music for the past 3 years. Music has dominated Carly’s life all through her time at South Huron. She has been a part of the music program for 4 years, in which she participated in 8 different ensembles/bands, including both concert and jazz bands, the percussion ensemble and the saxophone quartet. Along with this, Carly earned a spot in the National Concert Band, in which she was proud to represent South Huron, working with 53 other young musicians from across Canada. Also at the Nationals in Ottawa, she received an honour award while competing with the school’s concert bans. Carly is continuing her education in music this fall, at the University of Western Ontario. Carly would like to thank her parents, Steve and Brenda Schroeder of Dashwood, for all their love and support.
Kurt Van Osch
In his four years at SHDHS, Kurt Van Osch has been extremely active on many sports teams. In grades 9 and 10, Kurt played on the volleyball, basketball and soccer teams. In grade 10, Kurt also joined the track and field team. Some of his accomplishments included winning a bronze medal at WOSSA volleyball, competing in triple jump and shot put at WOSSA and winning Huron Perth in soccer. Furthermore, Kurt made the Honour Roll in grade 9 and received Junior Athlete of the Year in grade 10. In grade 11, Kurt played on the volleyball, soccer, track and field, hockey and badminton teams. Kurt made a WOSSA appearance in shot put. At the end of the year, Kurt was awarded the Team Leader Award in hockey, Most Offensive Player in soccer, Rookie of the Year for badminton, and also Senior Athlete of the Year. This year Kurt was on many successful teams. He played on the golf, volleyball, hockey, badminton, and currently the soccer team. The volleyball and hockey teams were able to make a WOSSA appearance; winning a WOSSA gold medal in hockey, allowing Kurt the amazing experience of competing at OFSAA. Kurt also won third place at Huron Perth badminton. Presently, Kurt is helping his soccer team compete at WOSSA, in the hopes to go to OFSAA once again. In his spare time, Kurt attends classes, and through his marks, was able to receive acceptance to the University of Guelph for Business Agriculture. He also participates in school activities such as the Terry Fox Run, Relay for Life, and many others. Kurt has enjoyed every minute of his high school career and will always have great memories of his time spent and the people he has met at SHDHS.