Geneva D-304 announces first Viking Leaders Award

GENEVA – Geneva School District 304′s first Viking Leaders Award honored seven special education students in Cailla Swanson’s Vocational Exploration class.

The students organized the VocEx Auto Detailing Extravaganza in September. They detailed 35 cars and raised $1,000 for charity.

“This Viking Leaders Award is intended to recognize students or a group of students who have gone above and beyond,” Geneva High School Principal Tom Rogers said at the Dec. 11 school board meeting.

“And this group certainly went above and beyond,” Rogers said. “They created an amazing spectacle outside of the classroom. … And it went all day long.”

Superintendent Andy Barrett said at the beginning of the school year that the new Viking Leaders Award was a way to have more recognition for students. It acknowledges students across all grade levels and replaced the annual Leadership Breakfast.

Quentin Yung, Ryan Barrett, Marissa DeYoung and Pablo Drab accepted the award at the meeting. The other students in Swanson’s class who were honored but could not attend were Brody Dihl, Isabelle Hauth and Jesus Villa Ortiz.

“These students organized the VocEx Auto Detailing Extravaganza fundraising event to benefit the Rising Lights Project, an organization dedicated to creating environments for individuals impacted by disabilities,” Rogers said. “By doing so, they exemplified key proponents of the new Viking Leaders Award. … This award was designed to recognize … individuals and groups who exemplify one or more of the pillars of our school district vision statement.”

The fundraiser brought in so many cars that at times it looked like they couldn’t keep up, but Rogers said every car was cleaned and every customer was satisfied.

“I just want to highlight for a moment what these students did so well that day. They accepted a challenge from Ms. Swanson. She challenged them to make the car detailing experience – that they had kind of dabbled in the last few years – a much, much more meaningful experience,” Rogers said. “And, boy, did they accept that challenge.”

The students organized the event, ordered supplies, set everything up outside, communicated effectively and worked with other students, faculty and volunteers to make the event a success.

The students’ work drew the support of many in the district.

“It gave all of us an opportunity, and when I say all of us, Central Office administration, high school administration, high school teachers,” Rogers said. “We had a volleyball team. We had girls basketball players, marching band members, a number of students who all collaborated with this group of students outside of the building.”

At times, the students told their volunteer helpers what to do, such as spray down a soapy car window or vacuum an interior.

Other times, they accepted advice from others on how to make their process more efficient.

“They utilized the skills that Ms. Swanson has been working with them to develop,” Rogers said. “I remember hearing many of the customers complimenting them on the quality of work that they did. … Their cars were sparkling clean when they left.”

Rogers said the biggest benefit of the day was that it was fun.

“And I think we can all agree, we just had fun,” Rogers said.