West Newsmagazine 5-1-24

26 I SCHOOLS I
BULLETIN
BOARD
Growing leaders at
LaSalle Springs
Students in Ryan Giesing’s eighth-grade
class at LaSalle Springs Middle will soon
benefit from the generosity of Eureka High
grad Nicholas Weaver.
Weaver, a third-year law student at Saint
Louis University (SLU) recently earned
the SLU Law Award for Community Service
and a $1,000 prize, which he immediately
donated to Giesing.
“I know how much effort Mr. Giesing
and other Rockwood teachers put into their
classroom, the extra time and effort they
put in,” Weaver said. “I thought, if I could
win the award and transfer that money over
to them, they could do a lot of good work
with it. LaSalle Springs is an awesome
place. I love the teachers and principals
here, and I think they’re doing really good
work. I’m hoping that being an influence to
this school, then it can be an influence to
everyone around us and, hopefully, there’s
a chain reaction after that.”
Weaver and Giesing first met in the hallways
of LaSalle Springs as middle school
students. After graduating from Eureka
High, Giesing studied education and Weaver
studied law. For the past three years, they
have partnered to offer a Leadership Club to
eighth-graders at LaSalle Springs.
The Leadership Club, which meets each
Friday, is composed of nearly 20 students
selected by their teachers. Weaver leads
them through standards-based leadership
lessons developed with tenets from
May 1, 2024
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
Geggie Elementary fourth- and fifth-graders tested out their athletic
abilities during the Geggie Olympics on Monday, April 15. Students
engaged in nine different events, including the 50-yard dash, standing
broad jump, 4x50 relay race, long and triple jump, javelin throw, softball
throw, mile relay and scooter relay.
Street Law, a national civics organization
dedicated to community outreach. Weaver
serves as the president of the SLU Street
Law chapter.
“We run them through leadership camp,
basically,” Giesing said. “Some of our earliest
lessons are about students finding out
what they’re good at and determining how
they can contribute to the group.”
In addition to leadership lessons, the
students also take the lead in planning and
running all-school assemblies at the end of
the fall and spring semesters.
“Our main goal is getting these kids who
are very different – with very different lives
and competencies – together to work on an
awesome product in the end,” Giesing said.
Olympic bobsled pilot
visits Marquette High
Last month, Marine Cpt. Riley Tejcek
spoke to students at Marquette High about
leadership and not being afraid to set – and
achieve – lofty goals for themselves.
Tejcek is a former Divison I softball
player and current Team USA bobsled
pilot who hopes to become the first activeduty
female Marine Olympian at the 2026
Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.
Whitfield chooses 2024-25
Glassman Leaders
Whitfield School freshmen Kamiyah
Jones and Kayla Sellers have been selected
as Glassman Leaders for the 2024-2025
academic year. Jones and Sellers were
chosen because they embody the spirit of
leadership, dedication and excellence that
the Glassman program seeks to foster.
Jones has demonstrated her leadership
abilities through her involvement in various
extracurricular activities, including
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dance, Cooking Club, Student Council,
and the Black Student Union. Her recent
completion of coursework with the University
of Missouri-St. Louis Bridge Program
reflects her commitment to academic
excellence and personal growth.
Sellers has shown remarkable dedication
as a multi-season student-athlete, balancing
her coursework with her participation
in the golf, basketball and soccer teams.
Her ability to excel both academically and
athletically is commendable and serves as
motivation to her peers.
The Glassman Leaders program, established
by Whitfield alumnus Robert Glassman
and currently in its fourth year, aims
to empower emerging upper-school student
leaders with essential leadership and
public speaking skills.
Through this program, Jones and Sellers
will have the opportunity to participate in a
Dale Carnegie leadership course, followed
by additional public speaking coaching
from Whitfield faculty and staff.
River Bend Elementary first-grade student
Elijah, recently competed in the U.S. Chess
Federation (USCF) Chess Tournament
where he played three games, and won
all of them. He will now receive an official
chess rating. (Source: River Bend Elementary)
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