By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Eight Dowagiac students were honored by the Board of Education Monday evening in the middle school cafeteria as Citizens of the Month.
December's Citizens include Dontrell Tucker of DMS (and Craig Zebell from November), Jordan White of Patrick Hamilton, Cody Hetler of Justus Gage, Madison Canniff of Kincheloe, Austin Sandberg of McKinley, Anne Zebell of Sister Lakes and Jason Roberts of Union High. Citizens received engraved plaques, orange "Chieftain Hero" T-shirts or framed certificates from the school board.
Jason
Roberts
Jason, a DUHS senior, is the son of Greg and Linda Roberts. He has one brother. Bruce Steen, his auto shop teacher, nominated Jason.
"Jason has now been a student of mine for two years," Steen says. "Because my advanced classes are a minimum of two hours long, we have become very well-acquainted with each other. he has a very good understanding of the subject matter. When he does not understand, he has the confidence to raise his hand and ask for another explanation.
"Jason is respectful when speaking of his parents. He demonstrates the same respect when speaking to me or his peers in the classroom setting. He is quick to volunteer his assistance when other students or I need help," Steen says. "His attendance has been very good. He has a great attitude. Time away from school is spent cutting, splitting and selling firewood. Any free time that is left is used for hunting or fishing. Jason is honest and a very hard-working young man."
Dontrell Tucker
Dontrell, 13, is the son of Tiffany Durren. Social studies teacher Chris Haack nominated Dontrell. Haack says Dontrell is very conscientious, dependable and possesses a great personality.
A pleasure to be around, he has the highest score in his eighth grade U.S. history class.
He has one brother, Kenneth Chaney, and a sister, Brianna, in sixth grade at Patrick Hamilton.
Dontrell is a guard on the football team and plays basketball for DMS.
Dontrell would like to attend the University of Southern California or the University of Michigan and is excited about going to a big campus.
He would like to be a lawyer or a chef. He enjoys being with friends and family.
His favorite teachers are Brad Yauchstetter and Haack. Dontrell likes all of his classes.
When asked why he might have been selected Citizen of the Month, he said, "Wow…," followed by a long pause.
He is a modest young man who has a hard time bragging about his accomplishments.
Craig Zebell
Craig, 13, is the son of Steve and Claudia Zebell. Paraprofessional Doug Michels nominated Craig. Michels says Craig is a great kid. He has asked Craig to help him out on several occasions and Craig always responds immediately and does whatever anyone asks him to do.
He has one brother, Blake, a junior at DUHS, and a sister, Anne, a fourth grader who was Sister Lakes December Citizen.
Craig is a percussionist in the band, plays basketball for DMS and also plays soccer.
He is a member of Student Council and president of the DMS Honor Society.
In his free time, he likes to focus on sports. His favorite classes are math and social studies. Bernard Thomas is his favorite teacher.
He would like to go on to college and says, "Why not Harvard?"
Craig dreams of being a professional soccer player. Craig thinks of himself as helpful and of having a positive personality.
Jordan White
Fifth grade teacher Kelly Treat selected Jordan for many reasons.
"His bubbly personality brightens the classroom every day," she states. "He enters the room with a huge smile and his usual greeting, 'Hey, Mrs. Treat!' Then he has a story to tell me, or a question about homework. He loves to talk!
"Academics do not come easily to Jordan. He has to work very hard," Treat says. "He is always willing to listen and work with other adults besides me. Even when he struggles, he still continues to pay attention and tries to give reasonable answers. I have worked with him for several times one on one and no matter how hard it gets for Jordan, he never gives up. He continues to push himself and ask questions.
"He loves to help clean up in the classroom, too. I know at the end of the day I can always count on him to do whatever needs to be done. He has stacked chairs, cleaned the white board, swept floors and he has even washed dishes," his teacher says. "I really enjoy having this honest and hard-working young man in my room. I'm looking forward to instructing him the last semester of fifth grade." Jordan is the son of Angela Jackson.
Cody Hetler
Cody, a student in Crystal Campbell's room, is also a student in Joan Frank's second grade class.
Cody works very hard in the classroom, always taking pride in the work that he does. He is known as an enthusiastic student and is always one of the first students to raise his hand with an idea or answer. Cody's positive attitude and humor make him a pleasure to have in the classroom.
Cody has two older siblings, Dale and Brandy.
He is the grandson of Dennis and Brenda Henslee. In the winter, Cody loves playing in the snow and drinking hot chocolate.
He enjoys reading at school.
Madison Canniff
Madison is a Young 5's student in Melissa McDonald's classroom. She will be 6 in May.
She lives with her mom, Pam, and dad, Rob, older brother, Cole, 9, and younger brother, Zach, 4.
Madison loves to play hide-and-seek and tag with Cole. He also helps her clean up the messes she sometimes makes. She is ready for Zach to be able to come to school with her.
At school, one of Madison's favorite activities is playing letter go fish with her friends.
Madison also enjoys learning about the different months of the year and she loves to color.
One of her favorite places to go is the gym for physical education class, where she learns new games she can play with her friends.
At home, Madison likes to play with her friends and her brothers. She likes to watch her favorite movie, "Flushed Away," with her family.
She also enjoys reading books about princesses. Madison enjoys spending time with her grandmother, where she keeps a couple of extra princess books. Madison wants to be a princess when she grows up. Madison works very hard each day to get all of her classwork done correctly.
Not only does she help other students make good choices, she also likes to make sure her classroom is kept neat and orderly.
Austin Sandberg
Austin is the son of Dan and Carrie Sandberg.
He has two younger siblings, Sara and Adam. He is in Kelly Knapp's second-grade classroom.
Austin does well in all academic areas and takes his time while carefully completing all assignments. He always follows class rules, helps others and has a positively wonderful attitude toward school. Austin is known as a terrific friend and role model with a great sense of humor.
"It is truly a joy having Austin in class," Knapp says.
Anne Zebell
Craig's sister, Anne is a fourth grader in Kathy Karsten's Sister Lakes class. Her family consists of parents Steve and Claudia, two brothers, Blake, 18, a DUHS junior, and Craig, 13, DMS's November Citizen. It says a lot about this family when more than one child has been selected to be their school's Citizen of the Month.
At school, Anne is a kind, responsible student engaged in several activities.
She was a member of the Sister Lakes spelling team, studying pages of hard words to compete in the districtwide spelling bee at DMS Jan. 18.
Anne also competes in Special Chorus during her lunch recess once a week.
Her talent was revealed as she danced and sang a solo in Sister Lakes' recent music program.
She is also a conflict manager at Sister Lakes.
This means she is trained to help others solve their differences and to get along at recess. Perhaps she will use these skills and experiences to write stories, which Anne identifies as her favorite academic area. She is considering a career as an author or horse trainer. Anne has many diverse interests beyond the classroom as well. She takes piano and dance lessons, plays soccer and rides horses any opportunity she gets. She enjoys spending time with her family, especially collecting shells on the beach with her mom.