Joseph Scimeca, Assistant Superintendent for the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge announced the regional winners of the annual Student of the Year competition for non-public schools. In August, State Superintendent Paul Pastorek announced that the state would conduct the Louisiana Student of the Year Awards Program. The goal of the program is to identify and recognize outstanding students in grades 5, 8, and 12 who are representatives of all students in Louisiana. The Student of the Year Awards Program has proved to be quite successful in recognizing many fine young people attending schools in Louisiana. All non-public schools in the state are invited to participate. A selection process which parallels the process for public schools, has been developed to assist in the identification of non-public students in the program. Both processes establish academic achievement, service, character, and communication skills as primary criteria for the selection of students. The Catholic Dioceses serves in the capacity of the public school districts for the selection of students attending non-public schools.
The Students of the Year selected at the Regional Level are listed below:
Grade 5:
1st place Olivia Grace Hamilton - Most Blessed Sacrament School
2nd place (tie) Breanna Estelle Bernard - Ascension Catholic School, and Raymond J. Laiche - False River Academy
Grade 8:
1st place Marianne Konikoff - Our Lady of Mercy School
2nd place (tie) Elizabeth Garrard - St. Jude the Apostle and Christopher Spedale - St. Thomas Moore
Grade 12:
1st place Bonnie McLindon - St. Joseph's Academy
2nd place - Malia Cali - St. Thomas Aquinas
3rd place - Gabriel Fuselier - St. Michael the Archangel
False River Academy's Ray Laiche is the son of Rachel and Dixon Laiche of Oscar. The students will receive a certificate for their achievement at this level which will be presented during various awards programs. Congratulations Ray! Everyone at FRA is proud of you!
