By: Vanessa Clark

The Challenge Program came to Tussey Mountain High School Wednesday September, 20th, 2023. This is an organization that helps motivate and reward students for their hard work. This program has five different categories and for each category one junior and one senior is rewarded.  

This program is separated into five different categories which are attendance, academic improvement, STEM, academic excellence, and community service. The attendance award is given to the two students who have zero absences or the least amount of absences throughout the prior school year. The students who showed up every day this year are Junior Paul Duvall and Senior Christian Santamaria. 

The academic improvement award is given to the students with the greatest improvement in their GPA from the prior year to the current year. This award was given to the students who worked hard to improve which were Junior Layton Spinnati and Senior Mahayla Scott. 

The academic excellence award is for the students with the highest overall GPA from the beginning to the end of the current school year. The students who earned this award are Junior Ava Brumbaugh and Senior Hailey Horton. 

The community service award is given to the students who have completed the most hours, recorded them, and turned them into their school. The students with the most recorded hours were Junior Keagan Traxler and Senior Alyssa Horton. 

The last award is the STEM award, this award is given to the student who is ranked number one in a high school’s specific curriculum for science, technology, engineering, and math. The students who stepped out of their comfort zone to get this award are Junior Jack Stoudnour and Senior Carter Sitch. 

All these rewards show that the Tussey Mountain students have accepted the challenge. This also shows that they are motivated to work hard in school and try new things as they move ahead.