55th Annual SAA Banquet Set for Thursday

The 55th Annual Society for Academic Achievement banquet is set for Thursday evening. 

The SAA event is sponsored each year by the Rotary Clubs of Effingham...Noon and Sunrise. The Noon Club is the chief sponsor this year.

The purpose of the awards is to give public recognition to the outstanding scholastic students of Effingham and St. Anthony High Schools. The students are selected on the basis of good character and high scholarship achievement. The honorees are limited to the top 5% of each class...sophomores, juniors and seniors.

The event will begin at 6:30pm at the Effingham High School Hearts Rock Cafe. The guest speaker will be Jeff Fritchtnitch, longtime superintendent of Altamont schools, and currently varsity football coach at Casey-Westfield High School. He's also served in leadership roles for the Effingham County Chamber for 13 years.

Most recently, Fritchtnitch has been onboarding with Fellowship of Christian Athletes in the role of building the FCA Outdoor program for southern Illinois. He's also serving at his home church as a professional coach.

This year's honorees include seniors Kristen Armstrong, Melana Benavides, Morgan Cekander, Ashlyn Davis, Adam Flack, Emily Greuel, Isabella Harkins-Albin, Sarah Hirtzel, Tyler Jenson, Logan Jones, Tyler Lake, Jessica Larsen, Sydney Nelson, Harsh Patel, Peter Rosen and Rayden Schneider of Effingham High School, and Madison Hoene, Elijah Poston and Mary Scheidemantel of St. Anthony High School. 

Junior honorees are Hannah Buckman, Sydney Cunningham, Abby Feldhake, Maximus Greenwood, Maggie Jenkins, Isabella Jones, Emma Newlin, Berkley Pullen, Reese Wendling and Averie Wolfe of Effingham High School, and Ronan Bailey, Liv Hoene, Audrey LaSarge, Aiden Lauritzen, Laney Walker and Michael Wright of St. Anthony High School.

This year's sophomore honorees are Kael Bean, Bailey Bohnhoff, Mara Braun, Helena Gebben, Jack Hartman, Maci Hayes, Rece Kinney, Macy Kirk, Leia Klein, Reagan Kreke, Ellyann Robison, Melia Wendling, Brady Wilson, and Leo Wyckoff of Effingham High School, and Ivy Daiber, Aubrey Denning, Gianna Frisbie, Holly Goldstein, Isabella Keller, and Ava Miller of St. Anthony High School.