MOOSEHEART, IL, May 20 - The "best and brightest" at Mooseheart Child City & School were honored on Tuesday, but not left behind were its hardest workers and greatest achievers.

And at the end, one of its more unsung veteran teachers - Helena Kies -- was honored as she prepared to retire after 22 years at the school.

The occasion was the annual Honors and Awards program at the Fieldhouse -- which is already decked out for Saturday's high school Commencement Exercises.
 
"What we try to do on this day is to encompass the whole year," Mooseheart Superintendent of Education Gary Urwiler said. "From sports to citizenship to academics. It's really a nice day."

The Honors and Awards Program allowed all middle school and high school departments to celebrate achievements and efforts from the 2008-09 school year. Some of the achievements will be marked at the school's commencement, which starts at 9 a.m. - such as recognition of Class of 2009 Valedictorian Krystal Ellsworth and Salutatorian Basheeba Mays.

There were further honors for the school's top academic achievers among the freshman, sophomore and junior classes. Those awards went to freshman Bridge Towalid, sophomore Jordan Holler and junior Sean Mayland.

"The main goal is for our middle school students to see our high school students achieving," Urwiler did. "Hopefully it will inspire them to become achievers themselves."

The program continued with vocational awards and then special recognition and honors. Among these was a second recognition for the school's three senior-class inductees into the National Honor Society: Ellsworth, Mays and Heather Hensley.

Senior Sierra Ross was recognized for her passage of the Illinois Cosmetology Examination. Ross was the only student to take the state's licensing exam this spring.

"I was really nervous because I felt I was doing really badly," Ross said. "And then I got my results and she started smiling and told me I passed."

"She" is Mooseheart cosmetology teacher Dodie Whitmer, who worked until the last possible moment preparing Ross to take the test.

"We were studying a lot, even in the car ride on the way there," Ross said.

Ross is headed to Chicago State University after Saturday's graduation. But cosmetology remains in her future plans.  "I will put it to use," Ross said. "I'm going to in college. And when I graduate, I want to buy a salon."

Although a celebration, there were some tears shed at the Honors and Awards ceremony this year. Those came when Urwiler announced that Kies, the school's Home Economics/Family and Consumer Science teacher has decided to retire after 22 years at Mooseheart.

Nathan Chavez, a senior, read a poem he wrote to mark the occasion. It read:

 
All these things are gone and past
Some things just never last
All the things you ever gave
All the roads you ever paved
 
All the small things you ever did
Helping out even the smallest kid
Watching over us from afar
Like the guiding light of a shining star
 
How can we show we appreciate
All the things we can dedicate
All would be meaningless to you
Without a simple thank you
 
We are going to miss what you do
For no one will be able to replace you.

 
Kies then stepped to the lectern and addressed the audience.

"I have been thankful to spend some of the best years of my life here," Kies said. "I have learned so much from all of you. You are all so special. It's been a wonderful experience, and I wish all of you the very, very, very best. You're always in my heart."
 
"For the amount of years she has served with us and what she continues to do for us, we should recognize her," Urwiler said. "She's going to be hard to replace. She's been just a blessing to have. Just about anything behind the scenes, she has done, and she never wants to be recognized. It's time, at this time, to recognize her and how much we appreciate her."

The program marked the first campus-wide function at which the seniors are no longer in school. The Class of 2009 is finished with its finals, though there are a series of activities planned as they spend their final days together on the Mooseheart campus.

"We have things that have the seniors together," Urwiler said. "We really want to give them an opportunity to be together and hopefully put some closure to what's about to happen here."

May Events at Mooseheart

• May 22: Mooseheart Fifth and Eighth Grade Promotion, Sheraton Hotel Ballroom, 301 E. North Water St., Chicago, 2 p.m.
  
  
• May 22-27: 2009 International Convention, Loyal Order of Moose and Women of the Moose, Chicago.
  
  
• May 23: Mooseheart High School Graduation, at Fieldhouse, 9 a.m., followed by conferral of the College of Regents Degree of the Women of the Moose, 11 a.m. at the Fieldhouse, and conferral of the Pilgrim Degree of the Loyal Order of Moose, noon at the House of God.

 
Mooseheart Child City & School is a 1,000-acre community and school for children and teens in need of a secure home, located just south of Batavia, IL, between Illinois Route 31 and Randall Road.
 
Founded in 1913, Mooseheart is supported completely through private donations - the great majority of which come from the 1.1 million men and women of the Moose fraternal organization, in more than 1,800 Lodges and 1,600 Chapters located throughout the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Bermuda. Moose International headquarters is located on the Mooseheart campus.
 
Since its founding, Mooseheart has operated a complete, accredited kindergarten-through-high-school academic program, plus art, music, vocational training and interscholastic sports. It is an extremely nurturing and student-tailored program, with an average student-teacher ratio of 12-1.
 
Mooseheart students who complete their studies with a 3.0 GPA or better (4.0=A) are eligible for up to five years of annually renewable scholarship funding, covering tuition, room and board in an amount comparable to that required for an in-state student at an Illinois public university.
 
Mooseheart is currently home to nearly 230 students, ranging in age from preschoolers to high school seniors. Applications for admission to Mooseheart are considered from any family whose children are, for whatever reason, lacking a stable home environment. Mooseheart boasts its own U.S. Post Office and a fully functioning branch of Fifth Third Bank.
 
In addition to Mooseheart, Moose International also supports Moosehaven, a 70-acre retirement community near Jacksonville, FL founded in 1922; and conducts more than $90 million worth of community service programs annually.
 
Founded in 1888, the Moose organization has long offered its members an opportunity to do good for others while celebrating life, with family, social, and sporting activities. For more information on the Moose organization, visit the websites at www.mooseintl.org , www.mooseheart.org., www.moosehaven.org, or call 630-966-2229.