Tri Star students honored at annual awards banquet
Tri Star Career Compact was able to bring back a proud tradition of theirs, which was its annual awards banquet to honor the students and teachers that have excelled within the past school year.
The banquet had not been held for nearly three years due to a variety of concerns involving the pandemic, as well as other complications preventing people from meeting. However, everyone at Tri Star was glad to bring it back, especially for the students.
“It’s actually our first banquet since we made our new facility,” said Career Technical Director Tim Buschur at the start of the banquet. “So you are the first group that gets to have a banquet after completing two years of Tri Star at the new facility. We’re glad to be in person finally.”
Buschur was happy to announce all the people that helped bring the organization, as well as its new building, even farther than it would’ve done without their help. One of those people was Kevin Sandler, the news director for WCSM in Celina.
“It’s amazing how time flies to come from a meeting where they brought up this idea of building a new Tri Star to when it’s actually been running for a couple of years,” stated Sandler. He was glad to help bring attention to the construction of the new building and is looking forward to the future of the group. He said that it was a pleasure to see it come to fruition and he can’t wait to see what’s in store.
Tri Star was also very appreciative for the works of Barbara and Rod Carpenter and Teresa Dowling. The Carpenters helped raise
$144,000 for an endowed scholarship fund that will help students for years, while Dowling was recognized for writing many different articles involving the organization, its students and the levy campaign it conducted while constructing the new building.
The banquet was mostly for the benefits of the students, though, with plenty of students shining with
potential this year. Assistant Director Brian Stetler gave out the awards for this years crop and he was proud to note the work ethic these students had to pull it off.
“Well, if there’s one thing you can probably say about all of these students [is] they’re very busy, involving clubs and other activities. They have a good attitude, they come to class prepared,” Stetler said to the parents in attendance. “Parents, thank you for what you did. Teachers, thank you for what you did. We really appreciate it.”
The students have plenty of plans after the school year is over, with most of the award winners consisting of juniors and seniors. Hopefully their success continues after they leave school and, by extension, Tri Star. Buschur wishes the seniors and juniors luck in their upcoming graduation and hope to see some of them come back next year.
The students received these awards in the following fields: Collin Williams of in Ag. Industrial Tech; Lilie Leuthold and Gabbi Nerderman in Animal Health; Jackson Heitbrink and Lane Langenkamp in Automotive Technology;
Ashtyn Harris and Jacob Hathaway in Career Based Intervention in Celina; Dylan Herzog and Caleb Miller in Career Based Intervention in St. Marys; Tyler Ruvoldt in Career Based Intervention/P3 in Tri
Star;
Leah Grieshop and MaKenna Laux in Graphic Communications; Mackenzy Wilkins and Xavier Schwartz in Interactive Media; Kaj Miller and Blake Nagy I.T. Cybersecurity; Audrey Shannon and Ethyn Krites in Marketing Education;
David Homan and Ben Marchal in Construction; Madison Smith
and Natalie Ungruhn in Early Childhood Education; Dakoda Moore and Ben Wellman in Engineering Technology; Caylee Seitz in Mercer Co. E.S.C. Career Pathways;
Abigail Post, Krista Ruppert and Aliyah Arling in Med Prep; Casey Goodwin in Precision Marketing; Dylan Elking and Zach Stelzer in REC Tech; and Jordan Weigandt in Welding.