See who readers picked as the Savannah Morning News Student of the Week
Editor's Note: The Savannah Morning News' Student of the Week initiative seeks to acknowledge the tremendous achievements of all students who are nominated each week. We thank the teachers, principals and counselors for celebrating the efforts of these noteworthy students.
The results are in! The student who received the most votes in the the Savannah Morning News Student of the Week poll for April 22- 25 is Emma Campbell!
Campbell is described by Savannah Christian Preparatory School school leaders as "a good-natured and hard-working 11th grade student who recently won first place in Humorous Interpretation at the Region Literary Competition." Campbell then spent a Saturday during Spring Break competing at the State Literary Meet. She has been inducted into National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, and Tri-M Honor Society. She serves the school as a member of Service Club and Prom Committee and is also a member of SCPS's sideline cheer and game day cheer teams. She was also a lead performer in the school's musical. She was named to the Head of School's List last semester while enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP), Honors, and Dual Enrollment classes.
Here's another look at the two other exceptional students who were nominated this past week:
Ayden McKenzie, sophomore, St. Vincent's Academy
Ayden McKenzie has a passion for the sciences, taking chemistry, computer science principles and AP environmental science this year at St. Vincent’s Academy (SVA). Last summer, she participated in an Agriculture Discovery Program. She does exceptionally well academically, with an unweighted 4.0 within all courses of rigor. In addition to her excellent academics, and extracurricular activities such as Mock Trial and Youth Assembly, she is a Youth Shotgun team member and placed in the National Championships. She is a peer tutor and a middle school tutor, as well. McKenzie scored in the top 1% of fellow Georgia students on the preACT and holds the top 1% of all scores on this test at SVA. She is always pursuing knowledge outside the classroom. She also takes her community service seriously. She has over 200 service hours recorded for the past two years.
Patrick Balbo, senior, Benedictine Military School
Patrick "Paddy" Balbo was Benedictine Military School's Southern Motors Student of the Month (March 2024). Balbo recently represented BC as the male lead in the BC/St. Vincent's Academy rendition of the musical "Cinderella." It was said by school leaders that he "completely nailed his character, in part, because the characteristics of his character as kind and genuine are who Patrick is at the core." He has been involved with many BC activities from student council, to One-Act Play, to musicals, to BC's Raider team. Patrick has faithfully served and been an active participant in student council since he was a freshman and he was elected Student Council President this year. He worked to create a fun and lively pep rally. He also played an instrumental role in getting BC involved in the Georgia High School Association's One-Act Play competition. He was recently accepted to Dartmouth College.
Nominate a student
Public and private high school leaders, principals, counselors and teachers are welcome to submit student nominations to studentoftheweek@savannahnow.com.
Parents or family members of students who wish to nominate a student, please reach out to school leaders and encourage them to nominate students on your behalf. The Savannah Morning News will not accept nominations from students' parents or families and friends.
Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah Morning News Student of the Week April 22-25
