Addison Trail alumna and Olympian Alexa Scimeca Knierim visits with students

Top: Addison Trail alumna (class of 2009) and Olympian Alexa Scimeca Knierim (center) visits with Addison Trail students during the Addison Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ACCI) Student Honors Banquet on April 12. Scimeca Knierim – who represented the U.S. during the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games with her husband and pairs figure skating partner, Christopher Knierim – was the featured speaker for the event. Bottom left: Pictured are the recipients of the ACCI Scholarships. They are (from left) Addison Trail seniors Angela Addante, Lauren Stamatopoulos and Jett Ramir. Bottom middle: Addison Fire Protection District Fire Chief Joe Leone presents the Kiwanis Club of Addison Scholarships to (from left) Addison Trail seniors Bianca Piscopo, Katarina Surjancev and Robessa Llanto. Bottom right: Pictured are MacKenzie Crawford (left) and Katelyn Bayne, who were named as recipients of the AJ LaRocca Memorial Foundation Scholarship, along with Christopher Latelle (not pictured).

Top left: Addison Trail senior Katarina Surjancev serves as the student speaker during the Addison Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ACCI) Student Honors Banquet on April 12. Top middle: Village of Addison Mayor Rich Veenstra congratulates the students on their many accomplishments and wishes them well in the future. Top right: ACCI President Robert Anderson welcomes the audience. Bottom left: Addison Trail alumna (class of 2009) and Olympian Alexa Scimeca Knierim serves as the keynote speaker. Bottom right: Anderson presents Scimeca Knierim with a certificate.

On April 12, Addison Trail seniors were recognized by the Addison Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ACCI) during the chamber’s annual Student Honors Banquet.

The event took place at Medinah in Addison and honored the students for their academic and extracurricular accomplishments. To see the list of the class of 2018 ACCI Scholarship honorees, go to https://www.dupage88.net/site/public/files/?item=3908. Addison Trail Principal Michael Bolden and District 88 Superintendent Dr. Scott Helton presented each student with a certificate for his or her achievements.

Addison Trail seniors Angela Addante, Jett Ramir and Lauren Stamatopoulos were named as the recipients of the ACCI Scholarship, and the Kiwanis Club of Addison Scholarship winners were seniors Robessa Llanto, Bianca Piscopo and Katarina Surjancev. The AJ LaRocca Memorial Foundation Scholarship is awarded to students who are interested in pursuing a career in environmental/water reclamation/wastewater treatment or fire services, and this year’s recipients were Katelyn Bayne, MacKenzie Crawford and Christopher Latelle.

Surjancev served as the student speaker, and she reminded her peers they are more than test scores and encouraged them to not measure their value and success by numbers.

The keynote speaker was Addison Trail alumna Alexa Scimeca Knierim (class of 2009), who represented the U.S. during the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games with her husband and pairs figure skating partner, Christopher Knierim. At the Olympics, Team USA won the bronze medal in the figure skating team event. Scimeca Knierim shared her journey to get to that level of success in her sport, which included overcoming a stomach illness that required her to have multiple surgeries and kept her off the ice for nearly the entire 2016 season. As the students prepare for life after high school, Scimeca Knierim advised them to stay positive and passionate and to have fortitude and faith. For more information about Scimeca Knierim and Knierim, go to www.TeamAKCK.com.