Cade Makings, left, received the Outstanding Senior Male Athlete Award and Rylee Jenkins, right, received the Outstanding Senior Female Athlete Award.

The MSHAA Award of Excellence Top Male and Female Athlete Awards went to Chaney Vogler, left, and Carter Gebhards, right.

Richard Fentiman, pictured with his wife, Suzanne, received the 2023-2024 Outstanding Educator 7-12 Award.

Dylan Kemerling, last year’s Student Council president, passed the Student Council Key to Ryan Lucas, the 2024-25 Student Council president. Also pictured is Mrs. Shauna Farmer.

The Rock Port R-II Junior High and High School awards assembly was held May 15, 2024. Awards presented included the following: 

The 275 Scholar Athlete Award recognizes conference athletes who achieve at high levels both in and out of the classroom. The Scholar Athlete Award can be attained by juniors and seniors who have lettered in a MSHSAA sponsored activity, maintain a minimum of 3.75 GPA and either score advanced on at least one EOC or have a composite ACT score of at least 24. Recipients were Cali Driskell, Addison Maifeld, Payten Shrader, Dereck Dush, Carter Gebhards, Rylee Jenkins, Chaney Vogler, Jaymes Herron, Ryan Lucas, Malachi Skillen, Tarver Muntz, and Bannack Skillen.

The MSHSAA Award of Excellence goes to the senior male and female who most exemplify citizenship, integrity, and positive sportsmanship as voted on by the entire Rock Port K-12 staff. This year’s female winner was Chaney Vogler and this year’s male winner was Carter Gebhards.

The Outstanding Senior Athlete Award is four years in the making. Student athletes earn points for achievements such as receiving a varsity letter, post season awards, and team success. There is also a coach’s vote component. Rylee Jenkins was this year’s winner of the Outstanding Female Senior Athlete and Cade Makings was the 2024 Outstanding Male Senior Athlete.

Two additional awards are voted on by the all district staff. The 2024 Competitive Team of the Year Award was won by the high school girls’ track team.

The other award voted on by all staff is the Organization of the Year. After a nomination process, all staff members are asked to consider each organization’s impact on the school and community along with successes at the district, state and national levels. The winner of the 2024 Organization of the Year was the Rock Port FBLA Chapter.

OUTSTANDING EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR

The final award presented was the 7-12 Outstanding Educator of the Year. This award is voted on by the high school staff. This year’s recipient is a lifelong Blue Jay and a true champion of the Rock Port community. He graduated from Rock Port in 1965. After college he returned to Rock Port to work a variety of jobs including Cooper Nuclear Station, insurance sales, real estate, selling fireworks, pool manager, bowling alley owner, and bus driver. In 1998, then Principal Steve Scamman asked him to come work at the school and that’s where he has been ever since. In addition to being a valued educator of 26 years, he has held various roles within the community including flag football coach, little league baseball coach, high school track coach, Park Board president, and Rotary president. He uniquely has the distinction of being the only treasurer the Rock Port Optimist Club has ever had in its history. He is known far and wide as the friendliest gatekeeper in Northwest Missouri – if not the entire state. Mr. Herron had this to say about this year’s recipient, “When thinking of Blue Jays, no one embodies being a Blue Jay more than him. He is loyal, dedicated, and most importantly, always a friend you can lean on when you need it most!” Mrs. Amthor said, “As true Blue Jays, we can all say we bleed blue. Some of us became Blue Jays at different times in our lives, but very few of us can say we’ve been a true Blue Jay for 77 years.” 

This year’s Outstanding Educator is also a dedicated family man. He and his wife, Suzanne, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary later this year. Together they have one son and three grandchildren. Mr. Parsons said, “If my two boys had any input – they’d say he also has two unofficial grandkids. Just last night after mowing and weed eating his yard, he took the time to come down and play with Drey up until his bedtime, and for any of you that know Drey – that’s no small task.”

Mr. Parsons presented the 2024 Outstanding Educator to the truest Blue Jay, Mr. Richard Fentiman.