Kelli Taylor

From left: Head Principal Justin Hunt, sophomore Mitchel Williams, senior Amber Hall, junior Angelica Bishop and freshman CJ Koso. These Awesome Eagles received a t-shirt, a certificate, a free clothes day and a lunch with Hunt to celebrate being selected for this honor.

Freshman CJ Koso, sophomore Mitchel Williams, junior Angelica Bishop and senior Amber Hall were named Awesome Eagles for the month of February.

According to drama teacher Cailey Gray, “the idea of Awesome Eagle is for students who go above and beyond what they’re asked to do in the classroom, and even what they’re asked to do extracurricularly.” The February Awesome Eagles definitely fit this definition, according to the teachers who nominated them.

Band director Kelli Taylor nominated Koso for her exceptional behavior while participating in the All-City band.

“It was for being a good representative at our school because the kids were just so awful and my kids were so good,” Taylor said.

Taylor nominated Williams partly for his participation in another honor band, but she had another reason.

“Mitchel is an incredibly caring and compassionate person, far more so than most people might realize,” Taylor said. “He needs to know that it’s appreciated.”

Librarian Kristena Rudloff nominated Hall for being level-headed and helpful during another student’s medical emergency.

“She just responded in a very mature and appropriate way to that, and the person that was in distress was her friend,” Rudloff said. “Amber was awesome. She called the student’s mom, and then stayed with her and talked to her and held her hand. I was really impressed. She was really adult, and handled the situation exceptionally well.”

Bishop was nominated by Gray, who was impressed by Bishop’s work on Harding’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors.” Bishop is working to make a portfolio so that she can be involved in drama in college.

“She worked harder than any student I’ve ever had to make sure that ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ was as good of a show as it ended up being. She was at every single rehearsal; she got there early, stayed late. She did everything I asked her to do and more so,” Gray said. “There was no way that I could think of to honor her in front of the school than to give her an Awesome Eagle. I’m not sure that everyone understands just how much work went into it.”