Reed-Custer says farewell to the Class of 2023

The Reed-Custer class of 2023 had an extremely notable year, and with the students having graduated Sunday, they are sure to go on to do incredible things in life. The year was nothing short of impressive.

The academic excellence of the Reed-Custer graduates is clear. To be recognized as a board scholar, a student must have over a 4.0 grade point average, and 22 students were awarded this title. Principal Tim Ricketts said that is the largest number of board scholars in the 14 years of being the principal.

Alexandra Bohac graduated with a GPA of 4.2923, and will be attending Augustana College in the fall.

Caelan Cole graduated with a GPA of 4.2346, and will be attending Augustana College in the fall. 

Gabriella Davies graduated with a GPA of 4.4158, and will be attending Augustana College in the fall.

Jaina Dubbert graduated with a GPA of 4.3375, and will be attending Olivet Nazarene University in the fall. 

Colin Esparza graduated with a GPA of 4.0691, and will be attending Joliet Junior College in the fall. 

Connor Esparza graduated with a GPA of 4.0564, and will be attending Joliet Junior College in the fall. 

Kaitlyn Faurot graduated with a GPA of 4.0214, and will be attending Eastern Illinois University in the fall. 

Halie LaGrange graduated with a GPA of 4.0891 and will be attending Trinity Christian College in the fall. 

Maggie Lantka graduated with a GPA of 4.4036, and will be attending San Diego University in the fall. 

Jacob McPherson graduated with a GPA of 4.2091 and will be attending University of Wisconsin at Whitewater in the fall. 

Grace Moyers graduated with a GPA of 4.1196 and will be attending University of Mississippi in the fall. 

Laci Newbrough graduated with a GPA of 4.3906  and will be attending Bradley University in the fall. 

Emily Reardon graduated with a GPA of 4.0509 and will be attending Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi in the fall. 

Mackenzie Romines graduated with a GPA of 4.1625 and will be attending Joliet Junior College in the fall. 

Wesley Shats graduated with a GPA of 4.1891 and will be attending Lewis University in the fall. 

James Sheridan, salutatorian, graduated with a GPA of 4.4278 and will be attending University of St. Francis in the fall.

Jamon Spikings graduated with a GPA of 4.1071 and will be attending Indiana Wesleyan University in the fall. 

Nicholas Stroud graduated with a GPA of 4.1673. 

Abigail Sunday graduated with a GPA of 4.3818, and will be attending Augustana College in the fall. 

Makayla Wilkins graduated with a GPA of 4.319 and will be attending The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa in the fall. 

Tyler Wiyninger, valedictorian, graduated with a GPA of 4.4927 and will be attending University of Minnesota at Twin Cities in the fall.

To be an Illinois State Scholar, students at Reed-Custer had to score at or above the 95th percentile on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), and had to graduate within the academic year they were chosen to be a scholar. Reed-Custer had seven state scholars: Alexandra Bohac, Gabriella Davies, Jaina Dubbert, Maggie Lantka, Laci Newbrough, James Sheridan, Abigail Sunday, Makayla Wilkins, and Tyler Wiyninger.

Davies and Wiyninger were also recognized as distinguished scholars, meaning they graduated with GPAs above or at 3.75, had at or above 95% attendance junior and senior year, and scored at or above a 1400 on their SAT.

Many Reed-Custer students also exceeded the standards set for SAT testing in both the math and reading portions. Alexandra Bohac, Gavin Bruciak, Gabriella Davies, Jaina Dubbert, Colin Esparza, Kaitlyn Faurot, Lucas Foote, Maggie Lantka, Logan Leckrone, Jacob McPherson, Echo Mudro, Laci Newbrough, Emily Reardon, Mackenzie Romines, James Sheridan, Jamon Spikings, Abigail Sunday, Gibson Waldvogel, Makayla Wilkins, and Tyler Wiyninger all exceeded the expectations on their SATs.

Students at Reed-Custer also excelled in ways besides academics. Multiple students had extremely impressive attendance. Connor Eggleston had perfect attendance senior year. Daniel Kuban had perfect attendance junior and senior year. Wesley Shats had perfect attendance all of high school. Colin Esparza has had perfect attendance since kindergarten, never having missed a day of school.

Community service for this class was also incredible. The 10 students with the most community service hours were Emily Reardon (144 hours), Daniel Kuban (144.5 hours), Halie LaGrange (189 hours), Gabriella Davies (212 hours), Kyle Fordonski (235 hours), Stephen Condreay (245.5 hours), Kayley Kohler (256.5 hours), Jaina Dubbert (343.5 hours), Julia Janopoulos (455 hours), and Victoria Loomis (595 hours). With almost 3,000 hours of time donated between these ten people alone, it is no stretch to say that the class of 2023 was nothing short of generous.

The seniors also had a very exciting year in regards to co-curriculars and extra-curriculars. Family, Career and Community Leaders of America state qualifiers included Haley Budick, Lilyana Chavez, Addison Harms, Halie LaGrange, Grace Moyers, Samantha Sprimont, Abigail Sunday, and Madalynn Ziesmer-Hermes.

Jamon Spikings was an Illinois Music Education Association All-State qualifier for Chorus.

Brandon Moorman was a 2022  Illinois High School Association qualifier for bass fishing. Victoria Loomis was a 2022 state qualifier for competitive cheer. Zoe Hasset and Daniel Kuban were track state qualifiers.

Kody Marschner was a 2021 All-State qualifier for football. Jace Christian was a 2022 All-State qualifier for football. Jacob McPherson was a 2022 All-State honorable mention for football.

Landon Markle was a state qualifier for wrestling his junior year. Gunnar Berg and Cody Marschner were both wrestling all-state qualifiers for multiple years.

Ryan Radetski also won the Wilco student of the year award for culinary, and will be competing with Wilco FCCLA for culinary. 

Four students have already planned to enroll in the military after graduation. Paige Holland will be joining the Army National Guard. Sam Sprimont will be joining the US Air Force. Chase Bradley and Ty Zier will be joining the US Marines.

Sixty-five percent of the graduating class are planning on enrolling in either a 2 or 4-year school, and over $1.8 million has been awarded in scholarships and grants. Five percent are planning on joining the military, 23% are planning on working, 7% are enrolling in a trade or vocational school.

The Reed-Custer class of 2023 is the first to have a senior year without masks or quarantine periods since the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges the pandemic put onto the students, the class has still managed to flourish and achieve excellence.

High school is challenging, and the incredible things that the graduating class has achieved shows that even in the face of struggle, greatness is possible. The class of 2023 has already made a long-lasting and inspirational impact on Reed-Custer.