The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) spread some love for good students this Valentine's Day when they announced the 2017 IHSA All-State Academic Team, which is sponsored by Caterpillar.
"This group is the best of the best,” Assistant Executive Director Stacey Lambert said in a statement on the IHSA website. “They embody the IHSA’s mission, excelling in the classroom in addition to the multiple sports and activities that they participate in. It really is an accomplishment just to be nominated for this award, and I hope the schools and communities that had winners are as proud of this accomplishment as we are to have these young people represent the IHSA.”
Each of the 777 schools that are members of the IHSA were invited to nominate one male student and one female student to be named to the 26-member team. Of these spots, 14 went to one male winner and one female winner from each of the seven divisions represented by the IHSA board of directors.
IHSA names Caterpillar All-State Academic Team
| Contributed photo
The other 12 spots were considered at-large, and the best remaining candidates from across the state of Illinois were named to the team. The criteria to be nominated was a 3.5 grade point average on the 4.0 scale after seven semesters, to have participated in at least two IHSA-sponsored activities during each of the last two years of high school, and to have demonstrated outstanding citizenship.
The IHSA received over 430 nominations this year, meaning that less than 6 percent of nominees made the team. However, the IHSA also named an Honorable Mention team, consisting of 50 additional students. But that still means that less than one out of five nominees were honored by one of the two teams.
In total, 69 different area high schools were represented on the two lists, but only six managed to land more than one student each. North High School in Downers Grove was the best performing, with three students being honored. Jenna Lutzow (Belvidere) and Emma Moravec (Downers Grove) made the All-State team, with Robert Falconer (Downers Grove) receiving an Honorable Mention spot.
Five other area schools placed two students on the lists: St. Ignatius College Prep (Rafael Curran and Brianna Gist, both All-State, both from Chicago); Payton High (Myles Davis from Chicago on All-State, Claire Goldman from Chicago on Honorable Mention); Jones High (Emma Wilson from Chicago on All-State, Jeremy Adams from Chicago on Honorable Mention); Yorkville High (Jake Eberhart and Julia Megazzini, both from Yorkville, both Honorable Mention); and Triad High (Elaine Fitzgerald and Brendan Grigg, both from Troy, both Honorable Mention).
Alerts Sign-up