Josh Szukala and Kristen Reinhardt were selected as the April Fredonia Rotary Students of the Month.
Szukala, the son of Peter and Stacy Szukala, is a senior at Fredonia High School eager to move on to the next chapter in life. He has received the principal's award quarterly throughout high school and has taken AP US History, AP US Government, AP Comparative Government, and is currently taking AP Statistics, AP English, and AP Psychology. When Szukala graduates he will receive an Advanced Regents Diploma.
Freshman and sophomore years Szukala participated in Varsity Cross Country and Varsity Outdoor Track. Junior and senior years he participated in Varsity Indoor Track as well. Senior year, Fredonia was not supposed to offer Indoor Track. Szukala, and a few other teammates, went to board meetings on behalf of the whole team to urge the board to keep Indoor Track, and it was later reinstated. During freshman, sophomore and senior year, Szukala's cross country team placed second at the sectional meet, and they placed first during his junior year. Junior year he placed second in the 3200 meter run at the county meet. Senior year, he received the CCAA Large School Runner of the Year Award for cross country. Junior year he received MVP for cross country. Szukala received MVP for indoor track for both the 2010-2011, and 2011-2012 seasons. He is also the indoor track school record holder for the 3200 meter run (l0:03). He will continue to run in college.
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Josh Szukala
Szukala also enjoys many other extracurricular activities. He has participated in Model United Nations sophomore, junior, and senior years and is a member of Key Club freshman, sophomore, and junior years. Szukala has been a student leader for FMS Backpacking Club, also known as Quest, his sophomore, junior and senior years. He has volunteered for Senior Citizen Prom, Special Olympics, Fredonia Farm Festival, Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, the MS Walk, bell ringing for the Salvation Army. and has helped with Christmas shopping for the needy at NCCS. He also enjoys road biking, mountain biking, hiking, and camping throughout Western New York.
Next year Szukala will attend SUNY Fredonia. He plans on studying exercise science and someday become a physical therapist dealing with sport related injuries.
Reinhardt is the daughter of Charles and Lisa Reinhardt. She is a senior at Fredonia High School and is currently taking classes at the State University of New York at Fredonia. Kristen has consistently received the principal's award and principal's award with distinction for 12/15 quarters of high school while taking advanced coursework including AP Psychology, JCC Spanish, three years of Advanced English, Advanced Global Studies 10 and AP Literature. When she graduates in June she will receive a Regents Honors Diploma. At SUNY Fredonia she has taken courses including Epics and Romance, Intro to Sociology, Intro to Philosophy and Novels and Tales. She is also currently interning with elementary teacher Ann Swartz in her fifth grade classroom to learn more about elementary teaching.
Since 10th grade Reinhardt has been a member of the Folio yearbook staff, serving as copy editor during her junior year and as one of the two co-editors this year. The Folio staff has received several awards from Syracuse University and St. Bonaventure University, including gold ratings from Syracuse for best cover in 2010, silver ratings for Best Yearbook for 2010 and 2011, and from St. Bonaventure the best yearbook and the Bert Freed Award for 2011. This year's book has been selected by the Herff Jones publishing company to enter their Ideas that Fly: the best of the best competition.
During the summer before her junior year Reinhardt was selected to represent the American Legion Post 59 at Girls State at SUNY Brockport. She has also participated in cross country since eighth grade and was awarded the JV MIP award during her junior year. In addition, she has helped produce the elementary morning announcements and is one of the co-anchors for the high school morning news program, Focus Fredonia. From her eighth grade to junior year, she was a lector at Holy Trinity for the Stations of the Cross that the eighth grade class presented. She has also played piano for 10 years and it is one of her greatest passions.
Reinhardt plans to continue her education at SUNY Fredonia next fall and has declared her major as early childhood and childhood education with a concentration in English. She hopes to become an elementary teacher with a master's degree in literacy. She has been accepted into the honors program and received the SUNY Fredonia Foundation Academic Scholarship Award for Outstanding Academic achievement.
