Dupage Policy Journal

The Winfield Board of Education honored an eighth-grade middle school student during its Jan. 26 board meeting for her outstanding achievement. 

Lauren Krupp, who attends Winfield Middle School, was honored. Iann Lemus also had been selected for recognition during the meeting, which was streamed on Facebook, but his activities prevented him from attending the meeting, so officials decided to have him come back next month for recognition, leading Krupp as the sole student being recognized in January. Jason Kucera, principal of Winfield Schools, noted that something new was tried this month with the recognition.

“One of the things that I was noticing, as we did the student of the month is obviously the middle school teachers recognize the student, you know, as a current middle school student,” he said during the meeting,” Kucera said during the meeting, “And I thought, you know, the great thing about Winfield is that these kids have gone through from preschool. You know, oftentimes at least since Kindergarten. So I thought, how cool would it be for some of those former teachers to potentially be able to say something? So this was the first time I kind of opened it up to other teachers besides middle school.”

Kucera noted that it was an easy choice to select Krupp, and as the teachers were nominating students they were surprised that they hadn’t already honored her because she was so deserving of the recognition.

With students at Winfield typically in the district from preschool all the way up until 8th grade, Kucera decided to seek comments from some of Krupp’s former teachers, and their comments were read during the meeting.

According to Kucera, comments from teachers that Krupp had in each grade level, from kindergarten to the present, offered praise to her both in the classroom and outside. Highlights included her efforts to organize a baby shower for her third-grade teacher who was expecting, her involvement in cheerleading and willingness to fill any task as a member of the Drama Department. Teachers also commented that they are looking forward to Krupp’s future successes in high school and beyond.