Chase youth awards bestowed

The Chase Youth Awards were presented March 26, and several West Plains students received awards for citizenship, community service, courage, creativity, diversity, leadership, personal achievement and the Spirit of Jim Chase. There were four groups of nominations: youth, middle school, teens and adults.

Here are the West Plains winners and a brief description of why they were nominated:

Youth awards

Reo Layton: The 7-year-old is the recipient of the Youth Award for Courage.

“Reo is an average little boy,” wrote his mother and nominator, Julia Hayes. “He is neither a superiorly gifted student or athlete. He has not rallied his peers for some community cause, nor has he faced personal hardship per se, that he’s found creative ways of overcoming.”

But the Medical Lake Elementary School first-grader has been at his sister’s side throughout her ordeal with leukemia. He rode on Aria’s bed when she was wheeled down for an X-ray or when returning from surgery. He picked out movies for her to watch, toys for her to play with and kept her occupied when the family was stuck in their hospital room. He also told her again and again that it was going to be OK.

“She believed him and so did I,” Hayes wrote.

After Aria was released from the hospital, Reo never missed one of Aria’s doctor’s appointments and always went with her when she had to go to the emergency room – with the exception of once, when he was at school.

“His first-grade teacher called to tell me that he was not himself and was worrying himself sick that ‘Aria is at the hospital. She’s OK, but I’m not there with her.’ ”

When Aria lost her hair due to her treatments, Reo volunteered to shave his head, too.

“I can’t remember a time that he complained or whined about wanting to leave and trust me, he had every reason to complain,” Hayes wrote. “He heard ‘just a minute’ or ‘wait your turn’ or ‘hang on’ countless times.

“It took over 10 months before Aria regained her strength, stamina and real desire for play that she once had. Reo stayed by her side and remained a silent presence that gave her healing comfort that I will never fully understand.”

Middle school awards

Masen McCormick: The Middle School Award for Community Involvement went to the eighth-grader at Cheney Middle School.

Nominated by Lorlee Mizell, McCormick is busy at both his school and in activities in Cheney.

He has maintained a 4.0 grade-point average since the fifth grade and has been in the National Junior Honor Society for the sixth, seventh and eighth grades. He plays the alto saxophone and baritone saxophone in the school jazz band. He volunteered with the snow removal in Cheney in 2007, is part of the Cheney Youth Commission, plays soccer for the Cheney Storm and participates as a juror in the Cheney Youth Court, an alternative to Municipal Court for teens who receive traffic violations in Cheney.

On top of all this, he is the second vice president in the Cheney Middle School Associated Student Body.

In February, Masen served as a senate page in Olympia for state Sen. Mark Schoesler, a Republican representing the 9th legislative district.

“Masen is a very deserving young man,” Mizell wrote. “The Cheney community is lucky to have him involved and there is no doubt he will continue with community service.”

Teen awards

Ramandeep Kaur and Elizabeth Hilzendeger: The juniors at Cheney High School won the Teen Group Leadership Award.

Nominated by Bill Christianson, media specialist in the school library, the girls spent their time before school, after school, during lunches, evenings, weekends and summer vacations working to organize fundraisers to benefit local charities.

The two also made presentations about their fundraisers during pep rallies, faculty meetings, ASB meetings and more.

“Raman and Elizabeth’s leadership and dream to help the community have inspired others in causes they believe in,” Christianson wrote. “As a school and community we are very lucky to have these two teenage leaders inspiring others to be active, caring community leaders.”