Academics/Fine Arts
Home » Recognitions » Academics/Fine Arts
At Rockford Lutheran School there is Recognized Leadership and accomplishment wherever you look - students, teachers and staff.
Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering
Rockford Lutheran Students successfully competed in the WYSE (Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering) competition under the direction of coaches Martin and Fisk. Rockford Lutheran students went against students from twelve surrounding schools to bring home the honors for Lutheran. Congratulations to Ben Sturm for placing 1st in Physics and 2nd in math. Quinn Johnson took 2nd in math and Rebecca Kartheiser placed 3rd in English. Team members include: Jonnie Balsman, Grace Bodey, Meghan Braddley, Zach Buchanan, Tyler Dunkel, Paige Galen, Spencer Jacobsen, Quinn Johnson, Morgan Kammer, Rebecca Kartheiser, Andrew Kortze, Scott Reithmeier, Ben Sturm, and Taryn Zimmer. Congratulations on your academic success.
Regional Math Team Competition
The Rockford Lutheran Math team competed in the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics (ICTM) regional competition hosted by Rock Valley College on Saturday, February 20. They equaled their best finish since moving to 2A with a fourth place finish out of the ten teams in their division. Notable standouts were third place finishes by the Algebra I, Geometry, and Pre-Calculus teams. Team members include - Algebra I: Cassidy Brown, Julie Buzzard, Megan Opperman, Bailey Peck,and Jacob Robinson; Geometry: Dan Cain, Elena Ewaldz, Kavanya Gray, Adam Kellen, Andrew Ross, and Martin Willette; Pre-Calculus: Zach Buchanan, Beth Gustafson, Morgan Kammer, Scott Reithmeier, Ben Sturm,and Taryn Zimmer. Megan Opperman tied for 5thplace in Algebra I and earned an automatic bid to the state competition. Rebecca Kartheiser and Ben Sturm placed first in the oral competition on Euler's Circuits and will also compete at state. Other state qualifiers may be named from at-large bids in mid-March. Congratulation Saders!
All-State Orchestra
Congratulations to Kendall Ferguson and Annika Ewaldz for being selected for the Illinois All-State Orchestra. They spent three days in Peoria rehearsing and performing with this honor group. Their selection makes them part of the top 2% of high school musicians in the state of Illinois. This is the eighth year in a row that RLHS has had All-State Musicians chosen. Also selected from Lutheran was Benaiah Sombke as first cello alternate. He will attend if someone else cannot. Great job Kendall, Annika and Benaiah!
Photo Contest Winner
Catlin Brown's photo,"Fallen Beauty", has been selected as the Division and Overall Winner of the 2010 Photo Contest sponsored by the Winnebago County Soil and Water Conservation District. She will receive her award on Friday, Jan. 29th at the Winnebago County SWCD's Annual Meeting. The photo contest was open to individuals who reside in Winnebago County in Grades 5 through 12 and adult amateurs. (click the image below to enlarge the photos)
Illinois State Scholars
Rockford Lutheran School is pleased to announce the selection of 19 students for the prestigious award of IL State Scholar. Recognized for outstanding academic achievement are: Erich Albrecht, Ryan Arce, Jonathan Balsman, Grace Bodey, Meghan Bradley, Zachary Buchanan, Kelsey Crocker, Jillian Davenport, Sarah Field, Quinn Johnson, Morgan Kammer, Scott Kruger, Jared Micho, Hayley Miller, Faith Stauersboll, Brian Stegmair, Benjamin Sturm, Michelynah Winebrenner, and Taryn Zimmer
This year 1 in 6 seniors were awarded this prestigious award. The award is given annually by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Illinois state scholars rank in the top 10 percent of the state's high school seniors from 711 high schools in 102 counties.
Math and Science Team
After storming past Walter Luther of Chicago 155-45 in the semifinal round, Rockford Lutheran lost in the finals to Lutheran North of St. Louis 95-70. It has been said, “You can’t lose in the championship unless you get to the championship.” Congrats. (Photo below L-R: Taryn Zimmer, Ben Sturm, Rebecca Kartheiser, Mr. Martin, Scott Kruger, Scott Reithmeier, Carson Jones, and Andrew Kortze)
Downtown Rockford Art
RLS artists worked together to create a mural downtown. Read the story in the Rockford Register Star.
Illinois Music Educators District Honor Band, Choir, and Orchestra
Congratulations to all of the Rockford Lutheran music students who auditioned for the Illinois Music Educators District Honor Band, Choir, and Orchestra. Three more students successfully qualified. They are Hewitt Walsh -- Trumpet -- Jr District Band, Sam Bonzi-- Vocals -- Jr District Choir, and Jeremy Lewis -- Principal Percussion -- Sr District Orchestra.
IMEA District String Auditions
Congratulations to the Rockford Lutheran Orchestra Department on a great job at the 2009 IMEA District String Auditions. Thirteen students qualified for the Jr. & Sr. Orchestra District Festival. Some of the high rankings include: Andrew Willette - Concertmaster, Sean Johnson - Assistant Concertmaster, Jon Hill - Assistant Principal Violin II, Kendall Ferguson- Assistant Principal Viola, and Michelynah Winebrenner - Principal Harp. Also qualifying were: Cassie Carlson & Allie Carlson - Violin, Annika Ewaldz - Viola, Madeleine Felder & Benaiah Sombke - Cello, Connor Corirossi & Daniel Johnson- Bass, and Elena Ewaldz - Harp.
Illinois State Scholars
The prestigious Illinois State Scholar Award - the top 10% of the state's high school seniors from 711 high schools in 102 counties - went to18% of the 2009 Rockford Lutheran graduating class including: Heather Baier, Ryan Bartz, Kirstin Burger, Mary Buzzard, Hannah Cain, Jordan Countryman, Sara Doss, Matthew Dunkel, Allison Engelman, Ryan Hansen, Cory Hogan, Dawn Martin, Kendall McCabe, Rose Moller-Jacobs, Amanda Stone, Sarah Williams, and Emily Wonder.
Journalism Prizes:
Lexi Smith andSierra Makeeverplaced 6th in yearbook theme development at the IHSA State Journalism competition at Eastern Illinois University on May 1. They competed against 20 other teams from across the state. They also placed 3rd in Yearbook Theme Development at the NIU Journalism Sectional on April 25th. Jordan Gill placed 6th in Advertising and Hilary Halsted placed 6th in News Writing. The rest of the team included Kendall McCabe, Haley Jumapao, Maggie Johnston and Patrick Hoffman. The Purple Ink staff achieved a Bronze certificate and Kendall McCabe received honorable mention in Review Writing by the Northern Illinois School Press Association.
Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering Competition:
1st place winners in the WYSE Competition were Sarah Kortze - Biology, & Rose Moller-Jacobs - English.
2nd place winners were Kristen Berger- Physics and Sarah Williams - English.
3rd place winners were Mary Buzzard - English, Cory Hogan - Physics and Taryn Zimmer - Physics
Kiwanis Award:
The Downtown Kiwanis Club awarded Dawn Martin, Megan Hier, Amy Reithmier, and Megan Ford for service, leadership and ministry within their church. There were only 11 students recognized and 4 were from Rockford Lutheran.
Art Educators Award
Mary Buzzard was recognized as a first place winner in the state art competition by the Art Educators Association.
2009 Solo/Ensemble Contest
Congratulations to all the high school musicians who performed Saturday at the solo/ensemble contest in Orangeville. Rockford Lutheran was rated 8th out of 115 schools scored in class 2A. Out of 52 entries, Rockford Lutheran High School received 38 first ratings. Superior ratings went to Sarah Kortze, Andrew Kortze (3), Martin Willette, Michael Wight, Jason Peck, Meredith Bock (3), Raquel Rhoads, Brittany Borman (2), Lauren Hargrave, Lisa Istad, Crystal Johnson, Sarah Gessner (3), Mackie Atteberry (4), John Ohme, Jake Koehler,Sung-Hui Yang, Alex Gaspar (3), Brad Giamalva (2), Sam Knox (2), Grace Bodey (2), Kendall McCabe (5), Chelsea Cook (2), Michael Atteberry (3), Matt Helm, Joel Gustafson (2), Jeremy Lewis (2), Joe Reising, Amy Reithmeie (2), Benaiah Sombke (3), Cassie Carlson (2), Annika Ewaldz, Kendall Ferguson (3), Kelsey Crocker, Ali Alter, Megan Ford, Alex Kuhl, Karl Helser, Jessica Lynch, Scott Reithmeier (2), and McKenzie Wallace.
Illinois Grade School Music Association Competition
The Junior High Music Department participated in the IGSMA Large Group Competition at Harlem Jr. High and came away with a 1st Place in the Orchestra Division and a perfect score. The Rockford Lutheran Band and Choir each received a 2nd Place.
Illinois Music Educators All-State Festival 2009
Three Rockford Lutheran students qualified as Music All-Staters: Kendall McCabe, Violin; Kendall Ferguson, Viola; and Emily Wonder, Harp. We also have 2 All-State: Amy Reithmeier, Viola and Cassie Carlson, Violin.
