The Wildcat Wall of Fame Offers Teaching Opportunity to Learn to be Our Best Selves
Before Winter Break, Mr. Hodgson highlighted goals for each student research team as he introduced the six finalists for The Wildcat Wall of Fame to the Young Samaritans Club. Photo courtesy of Marie Perry
What does it mean to be a Wildcat Wall of Fame inductee in 2024? That is the present task of students who make up the membership of the Young Samaritans Club at Belleville High School. The School District of Belleville is excited about yet another year of planning to induct distinguished nominees to their Wildcat Wall of Fame.
Nominations for this coming spring’s inductees were due on December 18, 2024, giving enough time for students to prepare to interview and research the six finalists who are being considered for a place of honor on the wall at Belleville High School.
Social Studies Teacher and Young Samaritans’ Advisor Chad Hodgson is excited to begin work with his club members to work in teams to interview and prepare a case for each finalist to be considered by the Wildcat Wall of Fame Committee. This research phase will wrap-up in February, at which time, the committee will reconvene to make induction recommendations to the school board. It is an exciting time of year!
District Administrator Nate Perry notes, “Since 2017, the School District of Belleville’s Wildcat Wall of Fame Committee has remained constant, with the same nine school board, staff, and community members since the committee was first launched. The students serving on the committee change from year-to-year, but they play integral roles in the selection process. Members of the Young Samaritans’ Club interview those making the nominations about the finalists for induction. The students then create presentations about each finalist. These have helped in writing the biographies for the Wildcat Wall of Fame plaques. In addition, Mr. Benash’s Art students create the hand-drawn portraits of the inductees that appear on the plaques. Finally, Mr. Hodgson’s Young Samaritans present each inductee at the ceremony in May.”
The Belleville Board of Education will approve selected candidates at its regular meeting in March for an induction ceremony scheduled for Friday, May 31st, but before winter break began, Chad Hodgson was already planning for the work his Young Samaritans need to do to aid in the final selection process. This student opportunity ties in well with the work Mr. Hodgson does as an Advanced Placement U.S. History teacher in that teaching how to conduct research and build a case in the classroom dovetails well with learning about each candidate who has been nominated for this prestigious honor. It offers a chance for students to embrace conducting primary source research as they interview and build a snapshot of each of the finalists’ key impacts on the Belleville community and how their lives have shaped it for the better.
“Young Samaritans [Club] has really evolved over the past seven years, and I have been fortunate to have many good-willed students join the organization who are eager to give back to their community. I have no doubt that someday many of these students will be inducted into the Wall of Fame. While students focus on local community action projects during the fall to improve their school and community, the Wildcat Wall of Fame gives students an opportunity to participate in civic action, researching nominees and then making presentations based upon their research. Students can be proud of their efforts each time they walk into the west entrance of the high school for posterity seeing candidates that have been inducted into the Wildcat Wall of Fame largely through their actions,” emphasizes Mr. Hodgson.
In this way, understanding what it is to live the “Wildcat Way” and be selected for the Wildcat Wall of Fame comes full circle for students beginning their journeys as Young Samaritans Club members. Volunteering is really the key to understanding one’s civic duty and becoming one with one’s local community. Students who are members of the Young Samaritans Club under Mr. Hodgson’s guidance get to learn by doing and learn by example. As May approaches, the final inductees also get to see a younger version of themselves in the faces of the Belleville students who have taken the time to learn about them and their accomplishments. It is an emotional event, and perhaps one of the greatest places to be as graduation day approaches. Honoring those who have come before us allows us all a place in time to measure our own accomplishments and make choices for our futures. Ultimately, the Wildcat Wall of Fame offers a teaching opportunity to learn to live to be our best selves.
