Each month during the school year, the Pattonville Board of Education honors students, staff and volunteers who have gained recognition outside of the district or who’ve made a special contribution to Pattonville. Learn more about students and staff who were recognized in January.

Pattonville High School

Young Artists

Thirteen students from Pattonville High School had their artwork selected for display in Lindenwood University’s 2022 Young Artists and Their Teachers Exhibit. Sarah Nelson was awarded second place in the drawing category and is enrolled in AP Art and Design. Other students from that class who had artwork selected are Anthony Cruz, Cordy Matulewic and Tara Wang. Additionally, Allyson Maue was named honorable mention in the drawing category. Emmy Benson, also from Drawing 2, also had artwork selected. Other student selected for the exhibit were Maya Delgado for ceramics; Saoirse Keane and Sarah Pruitt for painting; Dinara Aladinova, MaKenna Azerolo, Caleb Tillis and Weston Vlahiotis for photography. Their art teachers also had artwork on display. They are Beth Kathriner and Laura Thomson.  

Show above are, from left, front row, Sarah Pruitt, Emmy Benson and Dinara Aladinova and back rown, Saoirse Keane, Sarah Nelson and Caleb Tillis.

Band honors

Fourteen Pattonville High School band members were selected as members or alternates in all-suburban ensembles. In addition, each of these students qualified for an all-state concert or jazz band audition. The students selected to the all-state and all-suburban concert bands were: Patrick Ferguson for trumpet, Sydney Suvansri for clarinet and Joey Stewart for clarinet honorable mention. Students selected to the all-state and all-suburban jazz bands were: Nick Drayton for jazz drum set, who placed first in the state; Max McFarland for lead trumpet, who placed first in the state for two auditions; and TyRen Thompson as an alternate for jazz bass trombone, who had the second highest score in the state this year. Members of the all-state concert and jazz bands will perform with their respective ensembles at the All-State Music Conference hosted at Tan-Tar-A later this month. Additional students that qualified for an all-state audition in addition to being selected to the all-suburban concert band were Zoe Click for bassoon and Janani Kamalakkannan and Marques Rutlin for clarinet. Jack Caesar qualified for an all-state jazz band audition for trombone after being selected to the all-suburban jazz band. Students that qualified to audition for the all-state jazz band and selected to all-suburban jazz band as alternates were Floyd Davis for tenor saxophone, Sydney Hoynacki for bass, Ethan Massey for guitar and Peter McCollough for trumpet. The band is directed by Denny McFarland, Laura Livesay and Anna White.

Show above are band members, from left, front row, Zoe Click, Marques Rutlin, Sydney Hoynacki and Joey Stewart and, back rown, Patrick Ferguson, TyRen Thompson and Ethan Massey.

Choir honors

Earlier this year, 23 students were selected to the St. Louis Suburban District Honor Choir. Additionally, 12 of those performers placed in the top 20 in their voice part, thereby qualifying for an all-state choir audition. Of the 16 students selected to represent the St. Louis Suburban District, 25% of the all-state performers are from Pattonville High School. The following students were selected to the all-state choir: Patrick Ferguson and Ethan Massey as tenors and Diego Halbeck and Jahlil Johnson as bass. Additionally, students who earned all-state honorable mention were Maggie Haselbauer as alto and Joey Stewart as bass. Other students that qualified for an all-state audition in addition to being selected to the suburban honor choir were Cam Adams, Austin Branson, Luke Gerst, Kenedi Jenkins, Miranda Lopez and Devin Scharer. Others named to the suburban honor choir were Savannah Branson, Addie Candela, Olivia Dalton, Sarah Nelson, Maichi Nguyen, Omolara Ogunmola, Jules Pyle, Kyla Webb Shannon, Jakay Townsel and Victoria Welty. In addition, Branson, Ferguson, Johnson, Massey, Nelson, Ogunmola and Stewart qualified for the state sight-reading bee. They are taught by vocal music teachers Tracy Baker and Melynda Lamb. 

Members of the choir include, from left, front row, Devin Scharer and Jules Pyle; second row, Victoria Welty, Addie Candela and Jahlil Johnson; third row Ethan Massey, Joey Stewart and Diego Halbeck; and, back row, Patrick Ferguson and Sarah Nelson.

Orchestra honors

Zoe Click was selected to the all-state orchestra as first chair and the all-suburban orchestra for bassoon. Additional orchestra students selected to the all-suburban orchestra were Max Fetter for cello, Sydney Hoynacki for bass and Norina Shao and Jacob Zarosa for violin. The orchestra is directed by Paul Rueschhoff.

Orchestra honors were awarded to, from left, front row, Sydney Hoynacki and Norina Shao and, back row, Maxwell Fetter and Zoe Click.

Drill team honors

The varsity drill team competed at the Yvonne Cole Lindbergh Invitational in early December where they placed first in the Division 1A hip hop and pom categories and received a Showmanship Award for their hip hop performance. Later in the month, they competed at the NDA Blue Springs Regional competition where they placed first in the small varsity pom category and second in the hip hop division. 

Members of the varsity drill team were: Kaycee Carman, Nicole Cobbs, Kaylee Cofer, Elijah Davis, Reilly Edmonds, Hannah Fisbeck, Skyler McCaa, Zaria Purvey and Sabrina Vargas. The varsity drill team is coached by Lindsey Schaefer with the assistance of Anise Glenn. The junior varsity drill team also performed at the Yvonne Cole Lindbergh Invitational and earned third place in the Division 1A hip hop category. Members of the junior varsity team are: Amaya Hinga, Sophia Knize, Mackenzie Miller, Jordyn Powers, Shreeya Verema, Taylor Volmert and Aeriana Woodard. The junior varsity drill team is coached by Kate Deegan with the assistance of Grace Bowman.