Changes in one area tend to impact other areas, and the ripple effect sometimes impacts traditions that fade into the past, such as the annual Parsons High School StuCo Teacher of the Year Award that vanished nearly two decades ago.
Every year, in the old PHS auditorium, the Student Council had an awards night.
“It used to be that we had departmental awards, like the science department would give an award to the top student in science, and the math department would give an award. It was kind of a fun night,” StuCo sponsor Paul Duroni said. “It was the thing at the end of the year. That was where they announced all the big scholarships and things, and at the end of the ceremony would be the Teacher of the Year Award. All the teachers were there and the heads of all the departments. Principals were always there.”
Duroni said the ceremony had been going on for as long as he could remember, even before his first time serving as StuCo sponsor. Then the awards came to an end, though unintentionally.
In 2006, PHS was undergoing its major bond renovation project, during which the old auditorium was being converted into a community room and a new auditorium was to be constructed. No StuCo awards ceremony was held that May, because there was no place for everyone.
Work on the auditorium continued into 2007. Again, there wasn’t a StuCo awards night. However, that year, the recently founded Parsons Education Foundation sponsored the inaugural PEF/PHS Scholarship and Awards Banquet at the Parsons Country Club, and 16 scholarships were awarded. This morphed into annual scholarship awards being taken over by the PEF.
Work on the auditorium was delayed by rain and bad weather throughout the winter of 2007 and spring of 2008, so by May 2008, the auditorium remained incomplete. Again, there was no StuCo ceremony.
During this time, the students running the organization had changed. StuCo leaders graduated and were gone; traditions and ideas left with them. New students came in with new ideas.
Duroni had given up being StuCo and National Honor Society sponsor for a few years during this time. When he took it over again, he found everything had changed. The StuCo Awards Night had faded away.
Every year, new groups of students join the council and are looking for things they can do for students, the staff and the school.
At a meeting recently, the students were brainstorming. During the discussion, Duroni said he started telling the students about how things used to be. He recalled the StuCo Awards Night.
The organization has minimal funding compared to what it used to, so the students have to make decisions that fit their tighter budget.
“Back in the day, they used to sell donuts out in the commons area every day, and they’d make like $5,000 a month. Now we can’t do that. They’ve changed all the rules,” Duroni said. “The only funding they really have now is from the occasional fundraiser, like working concessions or a bake sale at a game, and the Gatorade machine and pop machine in the teacher’s lounge.”
The winter formal and handing out brochures at graduation take precedence, Duroni said. “They thought they could at least bring back the Teacher of the Year Award. They were like ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ So we bought a plaque and they nominated a handful of teachers. … “Then they voted. Mrs. Moore won it, so we got the plaque personalized for her.”
She received her award last week. “It’s just one of those things that one little award was easy to bring back, so I encouraged them, ‘Let’s do this, because the teachers don’t always get recognized, even though there is teacher appreciation week or whatever.’ This time of year, it’s stressful and busy and there’s state assessments and all this and that. It’s a perfect time to recognize the teachers right before we get to recognize the graduates.
“They brought it back, and I’m glad they did. I was also pleased it was a core teacher that won the award because they don’t always get the accolades some of the fun teachers get like CTE, or P.E., art or whatever that are just easier for the kids to connect with.”
