Rotarian Bethany Douglas, left, recognizes Student of the Month Sydney Schoonover. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com
The Rotary Club of Los Alamos honored Sydney Schoonover as its newest Student of the Month at its April 14 meeting at the Mnahattan Project.
The Los Alamos High School student is a member of the National Honor Society, the Natural Helpers and French Club. She also is captain of the school’s swim team as well as an Irish dancer and worker at Ridgeview Veterinary Clinic.
On top of all this, Schoonover maintains a 4.12 GPA.
As a Natural Helper, Schoonover helped implement a program to assist her peers dealing with stressful situations such as finals week. The organization distributed care packages or “Hug a Helper, Get a (Chocolate) Kiss.”
The program provides more than just sweet treats. Schoonover is striving to reduce violence in the schools. In her essay for the Student of the Month recognition, Schoonover wrote, “In the future it is my goal to continue the programs hosted by Natural Helpers that reduce stress and bullying in our school system, and to individually continue to aid students to avoid and eliminate, to the best of my ability, violence in our school system.”
The Rotary Club’s Motto is “Service above Self” and the club looks for young people who exemplify this motto to be honored as a Student of the Month.
To receive this recognition, teachers are asked to nominate students who:
- Have given positive contributions to their school and the community;
- Have a good attitude about learning;
- Are good citizens and respectful of their teachers and peers; and
- And have good grades, attendance, and classroom participation.
Additionally, students submit an essay that describes how they use community service to address a significant problem teens may face today. The Student of the Month committee select the winners based on their demonstrated service and exemplification of the Rotary Four-Way Test, which asks, is it the truth, is it fair to all concerned, will it build goodwill and better friendships and will it be beneficial to all concerned.
