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The staff at Hickman High School’s newspaper, Purple and Gold News, knew they wanted to honor the 2015 graduating seniors in a special way, but they never imagined a simple idea would evolve into a newfound tradition. On the evening of May 27, 20 of Hickman’s brightest and most exemplary graduating seniors were honored as part of the high school’s 20 Under 20 event, inspired by the Columbia Business Times’ 20 Under 40. The occasion came a long way, from what started as an idea for a senior send-off feature in the high school’s paper to a full-fledged event. It started mid-spring, mere months before graduation but just enough time for the P&G staff to roll up their sleeves and get to work. “We were having our monthly budget meeting and talking about the senior issue, and one of my assistant student editors mentioned how our principal, Eric Johnson, was featured in ‘20 Under 40,’” Dolores Caamano, a language arts teacher and supervisor of P&G, says. “The staff really loved the 20 Under 20 idea, and from then we just kind of went full force with it.” To find the 20 best seniors, the P&G staff formulated a four-part criteria that possible nominees had to meet: involvement in and outside of school, academic excellence, wellroundedness and a positive role model to peers. “We realized that as a staff, we didn’t know all the seniors in the school, so we sent out an email to teachers and asked them if they could nominate seniors who they thought were a great example of leadership and involvement,” Sarah Everett, graduating senior editor of P&G, says. The feedback was tremendous, with each teacher, guidance counselor and administrator nominating at least one outstanding senior. Some seniors were even nominated four to five times by different staff members at the school. “The students that were nominated multiple times by different teachers made our list,” Caamano says. “These were the same students we had discussed about previously in our staff meetings, so it was kind of proof that we set the best criteria, and we knew what kind of student we were going for.”
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1. Myriah Araiza, Central Methodist University, theater education 2. Junyi Wu, University of Southern California 3. Allison Frappier, University of Missouri, animal science 4. Mackenzie Murray, University of Missouri, chemical engineering 5. Cory Rackers, Missouri State University, graphic design 6. Wenzer Qin, Johns Hopkins University 7. Sam Lange, Marine Corps 8. Rachel Nielsen, Truman State University 9. Mikayla Logan, Southeast Missouri State University, construction
management (She will be a member of the track team at Southeast Missouri State as well.)
10. Gabe Gassmann, University of Missouri, journalism 11. Colleen Cutts, University of Missouri, strategic communications with a minor in women’s and gender studies
12. Mickey Hua, University of Michigan, statistics and sports management
13. Nathan Min, Penn State University, biobehavioral health 14. Elizabeth Lannin, University of Iowa, biology and psychology with a minor in dance
15. Alex Keneipp, University of Missouri 16. Britt Grindstaff, Saint Louis University, biostatistics and public health
17. Claire Majerus, University of North Texas, music education 18. Jonathan Jalali, University of Missouri-Kansas City, six-year medical program
19. Carleeka (Charlee) Kimmins, Lindenwood University 20. Emily Miller, Drury University (She will be playing basketball for Drury as well.)