The application has hundreds of candidates from all across Illinois school districts, and there are seven specific categories that they are nominated from: the teaching staff, educational support staff, board members, administrators, a local sports team, the creators of programs in the building, and staff in their first five years of teaching. Ms. Church was nominated in the category of being in the first five years of teaching and Ms. DeFiore was nominated for being on the educational support staff.

“I was very flattered. And then I had to fill out the application. I do not like to talk about myself or brag about myself, so it was extremely difficult to complete the application,” said Lori DeFiore, administrative assistant to the principal.

The two nominees will be attending a ceremony on October 28 in Springfield to meet other potential winners and to find out the official winners.

“This award is really simple. It is to honor the excellent work of several different people,” said Dr. Roscoe. “The two people that we nominated in hopes of earning recognition are Lori DeFiore, from the ESP staff, and Stephanie Church, an English teacher early in her career.”

To be registered for this award, potential nominees must write an essay explaining why they should get this award and their connections to the school, collect letters of recommendation from their peers, students, and the students’ parents telling why they are such great people, and write a professional biography about their lives.

“I think that the times that Dr. Roscoe or Sue Nielsen, who is the English department chair, they’ve seen me try to just connect with my students, and, obviously, I’m very passionate about English and the subject, but I try to first make those connections with individual kids and get them comfortable in the classroom,” said the English teacher Stephanie Church.

There are three prizes for winning the “Those Who Excel” award. The best prize is the “Award of Excellence,” the second-best is the “Award of Merit,” and the third-best is the “Award of Recognition.” They received a few of the results on August 28, and DeFiore was the winner of the “Award of Recognition.”