Crusader Hall of Honor

• Graduate (Distinguished Alumni Award) or complete service/activity with RLS (Community Legacy Award) a minimum of ten years prior to nomination award year.
• Strong moral character, good citizenship, a significant degree of career advancement or professional contributions to field, demonstrated leadership, positive contributions to church and society, athletic and/or academic performance, and engagement within the Rockford Lutheran community will all be held as important indicators of success by nominees.
• Community Legacy nominees must have also demonstrated a significant commitment to advancing and supporting Rockford Lutheran School.
• One (1) athletic team or student group may be inducted during each cycle.

• Nominations are open to the public and anyone may submit a nomination for consideration.
• Nominations will be solicited through the school website, social media pages, and various publications and other avenues.
• All nominations approved by the Committee (see Selection Process below) will remain on file for two additional cycles from the last nomination, but after that time must be re-nominated and approved.
• Nomination must be received by March 31st of the nomination year and nominee information files completed by April 30th of that year. – EXTENDED TO APRIL 30 FOR INITIAL 2026 CLASS
• Inductees may be either individuals or officially recognized student groups/teams.
• There are no established quotas by gender, timeframe of graduate, student activity/sport. The goal is to induct the worthiest candidates while striving to represent the RLS community.

• A Committee, along with a Chair, will be appointed by the Head of School to vet the nominee pool and elect inductees according to the rules established in this document.
• The Chair or a Committee representative will contact nominated individuals in order to gather information. The nominees are responsible for meeting any and all deadlines established by the committee.
• The committee will establish an agreed-upon scoring rubric for each cycle. Each committee member will score all nominees presented based on dialog and a presentation of eligibility qualifications. The tallied scores and their ranking by nominee will be presented to the Committee before final voting.
• In order to be inducted, any nominated individual or student group/team must be approved by a 2/3 majority vote of the committee. In the event that there are more approved candidates than the maximum allowed, the overall ranking of approved nominees will determine the inductee for each cycle.
• Approved individual nominee(s) must accept the invitation and commit to being present for the induction ceremony, or agree to a remote form of participation as agreeable to the majority of
  the Committee members.

• Nominations will generally be accepted year-round, but the committee will send out a Call for
• Nominations are announced at least monthly between December and February of the nomination year in the cycle.
• The deadline for nominations for each cycle will be March 31st. – EXTENDED TO APRIL 30 FOR INITIAL CYCLE IN 2026
• All information needed, including a Nominee Information Form, for a complete nomination packet will be received by April 30th.
• The Committee will meet on nominees during the months of April and May.
• The final vote by the Committee on nominations will be completed by May 31st.
• Notice to accepted nominees with an invitation to the induction ceremony will be conducted by June 15th.
• Notice and thanks to other nominees not selected for induction will be given by June 30th.
• Press release and publication information on each inductee will be finalized by July 15th.
• The induction ceremony and reception will be held on Homecoming weekend (or another selected time approved by the Principal and Head of School) in the following Fall, constituting the induction year of the cycle.

● Inductions to the Hall of Honor will normally be done as a group, called a “Class,” once per year following review and recommendation by the Selection Committee and approval by the Head of School.
● The Hall of Honor will have a maximum of eight (8) charter inductees. The Charter Class may consist of up to (6) Distinguished Alumni Awards that could include at most one (1) student group/team and at most two (2) Community Legacy Award inductees.
● Each inducted Class, following the first Charter Class, will normally be limited to a total of maximum of six (6) individuals with the constraint that there can’t be more Community Legacy inductees than Distinguished Alumni inductees in a given Class (exceptions can be recommended to the Head of School), plus up to one (1) student group/team inducted per two-year induction cycle.