FOLEY - For 62 years the Foley High School has held an Academic Banquet in honor of its top achieving students, and for 2019 there were 41 students who received the honor. The celebration is presented by Ascend Performance Materials, Alabama Credit Union, and the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce, and is held at the Foley United Methodist Church. Members of the church prepare the banquet dinner, and each student is given the chance to speak and let the audience know what colleges and careers they’re looking forward to, their greatest influences, and the most valuable lessons they learned while in high school.

“This is one of our outstanding programs each year that gives us the opportunity to recognize excellence from our students,” said Foley High School Principal Russ Moore. “These students have chosen to take the most difficult classes that we have available at Foley High, they’ve taken a number of AP courses, and they’ve challenged themselves in each and every subject.”

The event is attended by the students, their families and friends, School Board members, city officials, and high school staff, including the Teacher of the Year, this year Sean Ahonen.

“I’m a transplant to Foley, so to see the tradition you guys have here, 62 years of this banquet, is amazing,” said Ahonen. “To be part of this is an honor. I would just like to tell the students that it’s okay to explore other areas and come back with more knowledge. It’s okay to fail, just make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice.”

The top Foley High School Academic Seniors for 2019 are: Noel Appleton, Kaela Barnicle, Rebecca Belew, Abigail Binion, Ayanna Carvin, Jakob Chambers, James Cleverdon, Sarah Collins, Shirly Dixon, Joseph Drake, Hannah Dumas, Alyssa Forbus, Daphne Griffin, Precious Hicks, Melanie Hill, Greta Kyburz, Sara Brooke Larson, Reagan Lewanski, Christopher Madison, Sherman McCarthy, Riley Mercado, Brandon Metz, Caroline Murphy, Kiara Nelson, Richard Nguyen, Clay Parker, Maitree Patel, Ethan Pickering, Hannah Pratt, Morgan Price, Rebekah Rincher, Dulce Rosas-Sanches, Cade Sahr, Lawrence Scheetz, Kiaya Sherman, Devin Spivey, Joseph Sprayberry, Shannon Thornton, Sarah Trattles, Alyssa Underwood, Natalia Vazquez.

“This is a really sharp group, their entire class is an outstanding group of fine young people,” said Moore.