Superintendent Honors 20 Achievers

Superintendent Sue Zurvalec honored 20 students from , , and high schools and and middle schools Thursday morning.

Selected for a combination of academic excellence, involvement in school activities and exemplary citizenship, the students, in turn, shared their celebration with one teacher who made a difference in their lives.

While rain fell from a cloudy sky outside the in Farmington Hills, school board president Howard Wallach said, "Inside, it's a beautiful day ... because we're here to honor some wonderful people."

As Zurvalec introduced each student, she read from a list of accomplishments that included everything from student government and athletics to participation in theater programs and volunteer work. She also quoted from the students' rationale for selecting their influential teachers:

"She has been behind me 100 percent, every step of the way."

"He loves the subject so much, it's hard not to get excited about it."

"She brings her teaching skills, the ones that make lightbulbs blink in your head."

Corey Sheltrown, a freshman at Farmington High, chose biology teacher Todd Kammer, who has been a teacher in the district for seven years. 

"He always gives his time to help me understand what he teaches," Sheltrown said. "It's one of the few classes I enjoy."

Kammer said he was "very surprised and honored" at his selection. "You always hope the passion comes through for the students, but you never know ... I may not get through for all of them, but to know I got through to some really makes it worthwhile," he said.

Honorees and the educators they selected are:

Reem Aabed, 11th grade, Farmington High School

Catherine Barkach, 10th grade, Harrison High School

Sahit Bollineni, 10th grade, Farmington High School

Philip Chacko, eighth grade, East Middle School

Johnathan Corkery, 12th grade, Farmington High School

Michael Fisher, 11th grade, Farmington Central High School

Vanessa George, 12th grade, North Farmington High School

Eryn Hearns, eighth grade, East Middle School

Kyle Kansman, 10th grade, North Farmington High School

Kathleen Keyser, ninth grade, Harrison High School

Katherine Kreiss, eighth grade, Dunckel Middle School

Abhijay Kumar, eighth grade, East Middle School

Olivia McConnell, eighth grade, Dunckel Middle School

Corey Sheltrown, ninth grade, Farmington High School

Elizabeth Shrosbree, eighth grade, Dunckel Middle School

Marriah Simmons, 12th grade, Farmington Central High School

Nikki Wald, ninth grade, North Farmington High School

Alex Wheeler, 12th grade, Harrison High School

Isabella Wishnivetski, 11th grade, North Farmington High School

Rishi Zaveri, 11th grade, Harrison High School

Staff honored were Mark Azeez, Deanna Johnson, Kammer, Roxanne Mecham and Zeljko Milicevic of Farmington High School; Lisa DiPonio, Dawn Morse and Erika Rust of North Farmington High School; Amy Proctor Mantyla, Kevin Miesner and Theresa Stevens of Harrison High School; Pat Karas of Farmington Central High School; Mike Ehinger, Beth Iatrou, Mary Leyman and David Tyler of East Middle School; Benita Hong of Dunckel Middle School; and Tera Shamey of .