Each year the ILHS PTSA is excited to celebrate some outstanding community members who have been pivotal in our school community growth and helping our kids achieve their potential!

For the 2022-23 school year, ILHS PTSA will recognize one staff member with the Outstanding Educator Award, one student with the Student Advocate Award and one volunteer with the Golden Acorn Award. Learn more about each of these awards below.....

Outstanding Educator:  Awarded for making significant contributions that go beyond the normal expectations of their job to make the learning environment fun, beneficial and challenging. An educator may be defined as a teacher, assistant, custodian, bus driver, school staff member or administrator.

Student Advocate: Presented to a student in recognition of significant contributions through leadership and service to their school and community.

Golden Acorn: Presented to an individual in recognition of their outstanding service to children and youth in the school community and demonstrating commitment to helping them achieve their potential by going above and beyond.

Nominate one or more volunteers, teachers/staff members, or students that you feel has gone above and beyond for our school or local community.

Make sure to tell us why you think your amazing nominee deserves to win!

Please click on the buttons below to go to the nomination forms for Golden Acorn, Outstanding Educator, and Student Advocate.

The nominations will be open until Friday, April 14, 2023, and our winners will be announced later this spring.

ILHS PTSA congratulates ALL of our amazing teachers and staff on the tremendous work they have put into our first full year in-person. You have made a huge difference for our students!

The ILHS PTSA Outstanding Educator Award is given to an outstanding teacher or staff member for their dedication and service to all children. The recipient is chosen by committee from nominations gathered from our ILHS community.

We are very happy to announce that we recently awarded Dr. Stacey Hutchison with our ILHS PTSA Outstanding Educator Award for the 2021-2022 year!

Here are two examples of what our community had to say about Dr. Hutchison (seen in the photo above on the left with ILHS PTSA Co-Vice President, Jennifer McInerney):

“Words cannot describe how incredibly amazing Dr. Stacey Hutchison is as an educator, mentor, leader, and advocate for positive change for our school and community. Aside from being the expert in ASL, she has led many worthy causes, passionately volunteering, and teaching our kids what it means to be a good citizen to make the world a better place. Her exemplary work and leadership can be seen in initiatives she has led such as the Better World Day Project, Plastic Collection and Recycling Program and LGBTQ club to name a few. As a former PTSA President herself, she leads by example, broadcasting to all the importance of charity, giving and practicing core values. Dr. Hutchison is an inspiration and the positive role model to strive towards. Her excellence, grace and contributions deserve recognition.”

“Stacey is an extremely engaged teacher at ILHS.  She works hard to make her students feel "seen" and included within the classroom, as reported by my child. She actively participates in all of my child’s IEP meetings, sharing insightful information. She has been committed to parent communication through her regular e-news. She reached out to PTSA to inquire if we could offer a student grant opportunity.  She was instrumental in publicizing the opportunity and distributing applications to students for Better World Day.”

CONGRATULATIONS, DR. HUTCHISON!!!

ILHS PTSA would like to thank ALL of our volunteers! We wouldn't be anywhere without you!!!

The ILHS PTSA Golden Acorn award is presented to a volunteer who has shown dedication to and exceeds in service to the ILHS community. The Golden Acorn is the highest volunteer award given in a PTA!

We are very happy to announce that we recently awarded Cathy Jones, our 2021-2022 PTSA President, with our ILHS PTSA Golden Acorn Award for the 2021-2022 year!

Here are some things our community had to say about Cathy (seen in the photo above on the right accepting her award at our June Jam event):

“Cathy has been our PTSA President since inception when ILHS first opened. She spearheaded and led a small group of extraordinary volunteers to build and grow what has become an engaged and supportive foundation. We would not have a PTSA if it weren't for Cathy. Her drive, vision, energy, can-do attitude along with her kindness, patience and big heart is what has helped pull our community together for support. Cathy is all inspiring and an amazing leader, parent, Mom and friend deserving of this Golden Acorn Award.”

“Cathy is an amazing leader. As soon as ILHS got off the ground, Cathy was excited about the prospect of bringing a PTA to our school. And then, as soon as we started the PTA building process, she jumped in to help usher in the whole thing by stepping into the president role. Cathy is friendly and welcoming. She always takes the time to say hello to everyone and is sure to make a connection. In this way, she starts to weave the threads that become a strong community. People can talk to her and know that she will listen and care about what they are saying. She listens to concerns and takes action wisely and with patience. Her excitement about PTA and what it can do for a school is infectious. She has worked so hard over this last year and a half to get our PTA up and running and solid. I think she has given our PTA a very solid foundation that we can build on for years to come.”

“Cathy has been part of our infant PTSA since the planning stages with our regional PTSA support. She has never hesitated to jump in to help get PTSA off the ground including taking on the president role. Cathy is an amazing leader. She is levelheaded and thoughtful as well as encouraging in her approach. She ensures that we represent our community in the most appropriate and supportive way to the students, families, administration/teachers and the district. Cathy continuously advocates for our kids and families with ILHS staff and the broader community alike. The thing that really showcases who Cathy is as a leader is her incredible passion for building a community for our school. Cathy is always reaching out to a broad variety of people and groups to invite them to be a part of PTSA.  She has been a key part of planning our two PTSA school wide events, she schedules "parents' night out" gatherings open to all ILHS parents and has even planned neighborhood "walkabouts" to build our community relationship with the local businesses around us. Cathy truly is the heart of what we are trying to accomplish as a PTSA.”

CONGRATULATIONS, CATHY!!!

Another of our ILHS educators was recognized for their work supporting our school and students.....

Mr. Peter Schurke was awarded an Outstanding Educator Award from Northshore Council PTSA!

The Northshore Council PTSA Outstanding Educator Award is given to those individuals who go beyond the expectations of their jobs to make the learning environment fun, beneficial and challenging. We agree that Mr. Schurke fits that description! Award recipients are chosen by a committee from nominations gathered from the entire Northshore School District community. What a great honor! To learn more about Northshore Council PTSA's award winners and to read the wonderful things community members said about Mr. Schurke, you can visit this link.