Each month during the school year, the Pattonville Board of Education honors students, staff and volunteers who have gained recognition outside of the district or who’ve made a special contribution to Pattonville. Learn more about students and staff who were recognized this month.

Parkwood Elementary School

Composition competition

Parkwood Elementary School fifth grader Cohl McTyer earned second place in the elementary songs with words category at the Creating Original Music Project (COMP) sponsored by the University of Missouri School of Music and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. He was invited to perform at the New Music Festival on April 20. COMP, in its 19th year, showcases new, original music from Missouri student composers and songwriters in grades K-12, offering positive recognition, prizes, performances, educational opportunities and more. McTyer is taught by Parkwood music teacher Kathryn Leonard. 

Holman Middle School

Track athlete

Holman Middle School eighth grader Havyn Smith competed at the New Balance Nationals Indoor championship meet in Boston on March 7 and 8 and earned third place in the 60 meter and 400 meter dash events, earning all-American titles in the middle school divisions of both events. Previously in these events, Smith earned first place and broke the meet and facility records in the middle school division at the MileSplit USA Eastern Indoors meet in Kentucky on Feb. 9. She was ranked by MileSplit USA as first in Missouri and eighth in the U.S overall in the eighth grade girls category.

Pattonville High School

Cheer honor

Pattonville High School sophomore Gabriella Serra was named academic all-state by the Missouri Cheerleading Coaches Association (MCCA). Academic all-state honorees must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 on an unweighted 4.0 scale and an ACT composite score of at least 24 or be in the top 20% of their class. Serra is coached by varsity cheerleading coach Kalli Hunt.

Gabriella Serra was named academic all-state by the Missouri Cheerleading Coaches Association (MCCA).

Congressional App Challenge

Sai Dorasani was also named the winner of the Congressional App Challenge, which is organized by members of the U.S House of Representatives and considered to be one of the most prestigious prizes in student computer science. U.S. Representative Cori Bush named Sai the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in Missouri’s first district for the second year in a row. Sai traveled to the United States Capitol to be recognized for her project this year, an app with image recognition capabilities that can scan an item and identify whether something should be composted or recycled. Find out more here.

Post-Dispatch Scholar Athlete

Every year, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Scholar Athlete program honors one student from every area school. The student athletes selected are those who have excelled in sports and in the classroom. Senior Kylie Surratt was selected as Pattonville High School’s honoree. Surratt has played on the volleyball team all four years and plans to play volleyball and major in sports medicine at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Additionally, she played lacrosse for a year and served as the boys volleyball team manager for two years. During her high school volleyball career, the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) recognized her with its all-American, all-region and best and brightest honors. She has been named to the all-state and all-metro teams, all-district and all-conference first teams and earned academic all-state and all-conference all four years. She has also been named all-conference player of the year three times and has earned the Pirate Invitational MVP and Minds in Motion awards. Additionally, she served as a team captain for three years and is the Pattonville High School record holder in volleyball career kills, match kills, match blocks and most matches played. As a student, Surratt has accumulated a 4.239 weighted GPA and has participated in National Honor Society, National English Honor Society and as president of student council.

Foundry art exhibit

Students from Pattonville High School had their artwork selected for display at the Foundry Art Centre's High School Student Exhibition. The exhibit opened on April 5 and will be open through May 25. Students from AP Art and Design who were selected were Margaret Haselbauer, Allyson Maue, Ronaldo Romero, Harlee Wood and Elizabeth Zacheis. Aundrea Rosales from Drawing 2 was also selected. These students are taught by art teacher Beth Kathriner.

Health occupations honors

Students from Pattonville High School competed in the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) state leadership conference and placed in the top 10 or higher in various exams and events. The following students placed in the top three of their events which qualified them to compete in the HOSA International Leadership Conference that will take place this summer. Paul Palermo placed second in the dental terminology event. Prabhleen Bhullar placed third in the cultural diversities and disparities event. Lucas Konopka placed third in the clinical specialty event. The following students also placed in their events at the state competition. Chellsea Duong placed in the top five in the cultural diversities and disparities event and Krysta Azurdia placed in the top 10 in the medical math event. These students are sponsored by computer science teacher Jamie Jobe.

Lucas Konopka, left, and Krysta Azurdia earned honors at the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) state leadership conference.

Drill team honors

The Pattonville High School varsity drill team placed fifth in the small hip hop category and 30th in the small pop category at the national competition and placed third in the hip hop category at the state competition. Additionally, individual members of the team were named academic all-state. They were: Aliya Curry, Reilly Edmonds, Sophia Knize, MacKenzie Miller and Aeriana Woodard. Additional members of the team included Nicole Cobbs, Lauren Jacobs, Zariyah Rice, Mikayla Shryock and Tori Stewart. The varsity drill team is coached by Anise Glenn with the assistance of Jo Harshbarger.

Members of the varsity drill team included assistant coach Jo Harshbarger, front row, left, and coach Anise Glenn, front row right, as well as members, from the left, front row, Aeriana Woodard and Nicole Cobbs; second row Tori Stewart, Sophia Knize and Reilly Edmonds; and, back row, Lauren Jacobs, Zariyah Rice, Mikayla Shryock and Aliya Curry.

Technology Student Association honors

Students from Pattonville High School competed at the Missouri Technology Student Association (TSA) State Championships Conference at the University of Central Missouri. Students placed in several events and competitions. Sai Dorasani earned first place in the children's stories, T-shirt design and pin design events and second place in the prepared presentation event. The following students were part of the team that earned first place in virtual reality visualization: Elisha Dukes, Rhys Harden, Jared Kellner, Lucas Konopka, Nicholas Shao and Matthew Wasser. Students who placed first in the senior solar sprint event were Abdukodir Djuraev, Fred Kadima, Allyson Maue and Faisal Yousif. Gavin Prater placed second in CAD architecture. Dylan Cochran and Antony Roulhac earned second place in forensic science. Students who placed second in the technology bowl were Dukes, Konopka and Wasser. Rylee Cochran earned second place in transportation modeling. Students who placed third in board game design were Aiden Alvey, Dukes, Harden, Konopka, Shao and Wasser. Placing in the top five in the drone challenge were Djuraev, Kadima, Chuanjie (JJ) Li and Yousif. Students who placed in the top five in fashion design and technology were Rylee Cochran, Djuraev and Maue. Participants who were in the top five in the webmaster event were Dukes, Harden, Shao and Wasser. Finally, placing in the top 10 in audio podcasting were Djuraev, Kadima, Prater, Cody Shaw, Christian Truong and Yousif. These students are sponsored by computer science teacher Stephanie Carson.

Pattonville High School competed at the Missouri Technology Student Association (TSA) State Championships Conference. Under the direction of teacher Stephanie Carson, front row, left, were, from left, front row, Dylan Cochran; second row, Gavin Prater and Rylee Cochran; third row, Elisha Dukes and Matthew Wasser; and, back row, Aiden Alvey, Lucas Konopka and Fred Kadima.

Teacher Leader award

Lisa Foust was selected to receive the Missouri Teacher Leader of Tomorrow Award (MTLT) from the Missouri Milken Family Foundation. The award celebrates individuals who have demonstrated high potential to achieve greatness in education and empowers awardees through mentoring who will encourage excellence. Lisa was one of just 13 teacher candidates to receive this recognition, presented by Stephanie Koscielski, senior director of clinical experience and school partnerships with the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) and Pam Stanfield from the Milken Family Foundation. The Milken Family Foundation strives to discover and advance inventive, effective ways of helping people lead productive and satisfying lives.