Tuscola seniors awarded more than $191k during annual Honors Day ceremony
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By Ben Crane
Tuscola Community High School celebrated its Class of 2025 Friday morning during the school’s annual Honors Day program, where seniors were presented with more than $191,000 in scholarships and awards from a wide range of donors.
Principal Justin Bozarth welcomed students, staff, family members and local presenters to the gymnasium and thanked the community for its continued generosity in recognizing and supporting Tuscola graduates. The ceremony, which included academic awards, scholarships and departmental recognitions, marked the final school day for this year’s senior class.
Among the largest awards was the Cundiff Trust Scholarship, which distributed $1,925 to each of 34 seniors. Recipients included Keller Beechy, Andrew Bennett, Thomas Bennett, Ava Boyer, Annie Brazzell, Jackson Burlew, Kenna Clodfelder, Aiden Devlin, Jocelyn Ford, Carson Gaines, David Hornaday, Parker James, Carleigh Kleiss, Nathan Klie, Erin Knofsky, Naya Kupferer, Keyton Lance, Alex Lin, Ella Maxfield, Xander Neamtu, Belle Notaro, Carly Ochs, Lia Patterson, Allison Pettry, Mya Picazo, Ava Rauguth, JJ Reynolds, Andrew Spillman, Isabelle Sturts, Brayden Taylor, Rylie Vanausdoll, Olivia Wallace, Jacob Waugh and Sawyer Woodard.
Several students received multiple scholarships. Olivia Wallace earned nine different awards, including the GFWC Tuscola Woman’s Club Scholarship, Kiwanis Scholarship, Victory Church of Camargo Scholarship and the Sophia E. Heil Scholarship. She was also recognized with the David Dietrich Senior Athlete Award, a T.E.A. Scholarship, the William Butkovich Scholarship, a Rotary Student of the Month honor and as a Central Illinois Conference Student Athlete Award winner.
David Hornaday was another heavily recognized student, earning scholarships from the Be Brave program, Victory Church of Camargo, the Tuscola Alumni Association and the Tuscola Community Foundation. He was also selected for the Harley and Doris Helm Memorial Scholarship and the Doug McCumber Family Scholarship, both presented in honor of former Tuscola figures known for their integrity, community involvement and dedication to education and athletics.
Keller Beechy received five major awards, including the $16,000 Nucor Scholarship, a $1,000 Omni Energy Partners Technical Scholarship and a $1,000 Victory Church of Camargo Scholarship. He was also honored with the Keli Adkisson Memorial Scholarship and an FFA Alumni Scholarship.
Other students receiving multiple awards included Carleigh Kleiss, Lia Patterson, Rylie Vanausdoll, Allison Pettry, Kenna Clodfelder, Ed Carpenter, Parker James, Andrew Spillman and Alex Lin.
Kleiss received scholarships from the American Legion, FFA Alumni, the Tuscola Community Foundation and TrustBank, in addition to being named an Illinois State Scholar. Patterson received awards from the GFWC, Kiwanis, Kingdom and TrustBank scholarships. Vanausdoll earned awards from Cabot Corporation, T.E.A., the Tuscola Community Foundation, Victory Church of Camargo and the George Barnett Nursing Scholarship, and was named both an Illinois State Scholar and a recipient of the Lenore Cletcher-Wessale and Georgine McDonald Trust Scholarships.
Pettry received scholarships from the Daughters of the American Revolution, Forty Martyrs Catholic Church, the GFWC, the Tuscola Alumni Association and the Tuscola Community Foundation, and was recognized as an Illinois State Scholar and Rotary Student of the Month. Clodfelder earned more than half a dozen awards including scholarships from the Kiwanis, PowWows, Rotary, and multiple trust funds, and was named both a CIC Student Athlete and Illinois State Scholar.
Carpenter was recognized with scholarships from the GFWC and Kiwanis clubs, as well as a TCHS scholarship fund award and a SAT writing award. James earned the Broc Winn Memorial Scholarship, the GFWC State Boys Vocational Scholarship, the PowWows Scholarship and additional support from the Alumni Association and Victory Church. Spillman was awarded scholarships from the American Legion, Forty Martyrs Church, Rotary and VFW, and also received the David Dietrich Senior Athlete Award and was named a Rotary Student of the Month. Lin earned four separate scholarships from Mediacom, the Tuscola Alumni Association and the Tuscola Community Foundation, in addition to being recognized as an Illinois State Scholar.
The Keli Adkisson Memorial Scholarships, established in honor of a 2013 TCHS graduate who passed away in 2020, were presented to Beechy, Carson Gaines and Dayne Lough. The Marci Lietz Memorial Scholarship, given for the 23rd consecutive year in memory of the 1999 graduate, was awarded to Brody Thomas.
Other significant awards included the $5,000 Lloyd and Selma Sweeney Scholarship, awarded to Nathan Klie; the First Mid Bank and Trust Scholarship, awarded to Aiden Devlin; the Dylan M. Taylor Memorial Scholarships, awarded to Ava Boyer and Gaines; and the Rutan Family Memorial Scholarships, awarded to Andrew and Thomas Bennett.
A number of students were honored with scholarships that reflect family legacies and professional dedication. The Dr. Dana Mattix Memorial Scholarships were presented to Knofsky, Lin, Pettry and Vanausdoll for their commitment to entering healthcare fields. The Georgine McDonald Trust and the Lenore Cletcher-Wessale Trust together awarded more than $28,000 to students pursuing studies in medicine, agriculture and the fine arts.
Rotary Student of the Month recipients throughout the school year included Wallace, Pettry, Spillman, Naya Kupferer, Brayden Taylor, Jocelyn Ford, Ayla DeLeva, Clodfelder, Klie and Wallace.
Departmental academic awards were also presented. Kleiss and Lance were honored for agriculture, Carpenter for art, Goodman for band, Beechy for business, Spillman for chorus, Kupferer for English and Spanish, Anderson and Brazzell for family and consumer sciences, Thomas Bennett for history and math, Taylor for physical education and Spanish, Andrew Bennett and Ava Rauguth for science, and Lin and Kupferer for mathematics. Band and choral students were also recognized for excellence in performance.
The Illinois State Scholars for 2025 were Andrew Bennett, Thomas Bennett, Carpenter, Devlin, Ford, Kleiss, Klie, Kupferer, Lin, Pettry, Taylor and Wallace.
As the program concluded, Bozarth thanked donors once again and urged underclassmen to let the event serve as motivation for their own futures. Seniors were invited to take photos with presenters, while freshmen, sophomores and juniors were dismissed to lunch with a reminder to be present in their eighth-hour classes.