Four Streetsboro seniors earned Portage County Student of the Month honors from the Teen Board this year, thanks to the efforts of SHS’ representative, senior Bella Leonardi. 

Noor Chima, Ella Deevers, Aaron Sears and Corey Teuton all earned this distinction after Leonardi promoted them at monthly meetings with other county Teen Board reps. 

Nominees can be invited to apply for the program by their school’s Teen Board rep or by an administrator.  

“Of course, it felt great to be named Student of the Month,” Sears said. “I’ve put in many hundreds of hours this year, especially as a part of The Rocket Report and Thrive, so it felt really good to be recognized for that.”

Teen Board is composed of several school districts whose representative works with the principal to find candidates to promote. These candidates are chosen based on qualities like participation in the community, GPA and athletics.

After the reps meet monthly to present their reasons why their nominee should be Teen of the Month, winners are recognized in the local newspaper and at a ceremony toward the end of the year.

Although Student of the Month is not specifically a physical award, it can be put on college and scholarship applications.

“Being named Portage Senior Student of the Month was such an incredible experience, and I feel so honored that I was chosen considering there were so many successful students,” Chimas said. “The Teen Board is full of so many amazing students, including my good friend Bella Leonardi, who is the Streetsboro representative. Bella had told me to turn in my resume with all my volunteer work, awards, etc but I did not truly know what the Teen Board was about nor did I expect to win.”

Joe Huber, who serves as SHS’ student liaison, helps oversee Streetsboro’s Teen Board reps. “Over the years I’ve come up with ideas and stuff and sometimes they don’t accept and sometimes they really don’t like them…Basically I try to go and get an edge for our kids.”

Leonardi enjoyed promoting her fellow students in the county meetings this year. “I think it’s really cool to just honor the students for all their hard work, because a lot of students do go unseen from the school and the county,” she said. “And I think it’s also really cool to be able to see all the students and all their hard work throughout Portage County.”