The Those Who Excel Award annually recognizes certain staff members of a school who do an outstanding job and go above and beyond in their work. North has two women who were nominated for this award, Dean Linda Vecchie and Registrar Jane Lane. Associate Principal Megan Licht has nominated these particular staff members because of their ability to go above and beyond in their jobs.

“I could tell them every single day as their supervisor, ‘You’re awesome; you’re awesome; you’re awesome,’ but I felt like they needed another push to know how awesome they are and to be recognized by the state of Illinois,” Licht said.
The award is made to recognize the staff members and ensure that they know how appreciated they are.
“I think it’s nice to get recognized; it’s nice to get like a pat on the back. Like when you do anything someone says ‘hey good job’, that’s very validating. Even if it’s just a little thing like if you’re walking out of the building and somebody says, ‘Good job today. Thanks for working hard.’ That’s nice, but this was just very nice to have someone recognize your body of work,” Vecchie said.
Of course, like all awards, not everyone can get one. There are many other staff members that also deserve recognition. Vecchie and Lane agreed that they could not be as good at their job without everybody else.
“I do think, though, that when they recognized me for support staff, I also feel like they recognized all of support staff. It’s just an amazing group of people, and I don’t like being singled out above them. That’s the hard part. I feel like it’s a team,” Lane said.
Vecchie and Lane deserved this award, but so did many others. At the end of the day, it is a team effort.
“I remember writing in my statement, ‘I can be good at my job because of the people I am surrounded with.’ I wouldn’t be good at my job without John Sawyer and Kevin Doyle. The three of us do stuff together all the time, and Megan Licht too, and the support staff and the office,” Vecchie said.