SHELBY — The Crawford County Business & Education Advisory Council (CCBEAC) recently held its annual countywide recognition and awards program honoring outstanding effort by public school students and teachers.

This year’s B.E.S.T. Awards were hosted by Pioneer Career and Technology Center on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at 6:30 p.m., beginning with the entertainment provided by an ensemble from the Pioneer performing arts program under the direction of Anne Kurtzman.

Students from each of Crawford County’s seven high schools (Buckeye Central, Bucyrus, Colonel Crawford, Crestline, Galion, Wynford, and Fairway), and two Crawford County seniors from Pioneer Career & Technology Center, received B.E.S.T. Awards. The awards are given to students exhibiting outstanding levels of effort, responsibility and citizenship. All students are eligible including college-bound, career-bound, and special education students. These are not academic or athletic awards; they are awards designed to recognize students who exhibit outstanding work ethic by continually doing their best, putting forth effort, committing to the responsibilities they undertake, being cooperative and working well on a team, and being reliable and trustworthy. The Business and Education Advisory Council has concluded that these are the characteristics that most employers are seeking.

Each student names an educator who has been especially inspirational and encouraging in furthering their work ethic development and educational goals. The students may choose any educator from preschool through high school, including administrators, coaches, guidance counselors, and other personnel.

During the event, Crest Bending, Inc. of New Washington received the Steve Tilson Business Partner Award for their partnership with Pioneer Career and Technology Center. In the nomination letter, Pioneer superintendent Greg Nickoli stated, “For many years, the staff and employees of Crest Bending have worked diligently to partner with Pioneer and have actively supported our educational and workforce training efforts in a variety of ways. They regularly give of their time, expertise, and other resources to support our students as they prepare for future employment and our staff as we work to provide world-class career technical training. They consistently demonstrate a commitment to education; provide mentoring and job shadowing opportunities; host field trips and community projects; hire Pioneer students and serve on our Advisory Boards.”

The Crawford County B.E.S.T. Awards were sponsored by the CCBEAC, the Crawford Partnership for Education and Economic Development and Parr Insurance Agency, Inc. These organizations were helpful in providing organizational skills, time and guidance in connection with these awards.

Students                     School                                                 Educator

Chase Brown               Buckeye Central Schools                 Zac Kaple
Taylor Ratliff               Buckeye Central Schools                 Marcia Stout
McKenzie Powers       Bucyrus Schools                               Terra Hamm
Dorothy Taylor           Bucyrus Schools                                Tracye Belcher
Madisyn Cooke           Colonel Crawford Schools               Lynlee Dzugan
Kyle Nebergall            Colonel Crawford Schools               Lynlee Dzugan
Allison Goddard         Colonel Crawford Schools               Danielle Clime
Kayla Humphrey        Colonel Crawford Schools               Ryan Teglovic
Ethan Clum                 Crestline Schools                               Kris Bruce
Adia Armstrong          Crestline Schools                              Katie Stasen
Duston Drew               Fairway School                                  Cheryl Williams
Christain Olmstead    Fairway School                                  Julie Thornton
Kacie Runyon              Galion Schools                                   Robert Gossom
Kiersten Gifford          Galion Schools                                   Amy Tyree
Rachel Brown              Pioneer CTC                                       Terri Crain
Desi Hunt                     Pioneer CTC                                       Anne Kurtzman
Chase Schoonover      Wynford Schools                               Jordan Oliver
Matthew McBride       Wynford Schools                               Jordan Oliver