Elizabeth Forward to honor Elite 20’s Class of 2026

The Elizabeth Forward Alumni and Friends Association hold the banquet each year.

Elizabeth Forward High School will have its annual Elite 20 banquet May 21 at the Sunset Room at the Vista — showcasing 20 outstanding students recognized by their teachers for their excellence.

Since May 2013, senior students have been recognized for academics, leadership, character and service. The students are then allowed to choose one teacher from throughout their K-12 career who has had the most influence on them to be recognized at the banquet.

Teachers who have been nominated include elementary, middle and high school teachers.

EFHS counselor Jill Monti said she helped coordinate the names that graduating seniors teachers voted on. There aren’t any parameters besides the qualifications and they let the staff make their best judgment for which students that stand out and the ones that will showcase the Elizabeth Forward name in a great way.

She added that this year’s students are exceptional, and this is the most students that have been voted on since she started running this event.

“I believe that we had so many kids voted on because there are so many hardworking and talented kids in the Class of 2026,” Monti said. “I truly believe that these kiddos will go on to achieve great things! This graduating class has so many leaders and I am excited for this year’s Elite 20. I know they will make Elizabeth Forward proud.”

Monti added that they chose a variety of kids that are going into various fields and are involved in a variety of activities – sometimes students the community knows about.

The students are additionally given an opportunity at the banquet to give a short explanation about why they chose to recognize that person. Both the student and their teacher are given certificates, they get a dinner and the student, their teacher and two guests are welcomed.

The Elizabeth Forward Alumni and Friends Association are the hosts of the banquet, according to Association member Bobbi Bauer.

“A lot of people think that this is a school district event, and we are just helping,” Bauer said. “No. This is our event, and the school district is helping us.”

Established in 1997 by Dr. Kevin Ryan, the Association was the start of the Hall of Fame inductees, and their mission is to enhance the image of public education in Elizabeth Forward School District.

An anonymous EF alum has paid for the whole event for the past five years so the Association doesn’t have to take money out of its scholarship fund.

Bauer sends a letter to this person and they send a check to pay for dinner for the student, the teacher and two guests. She has been sending letters since 2017, and they only fundraise for their Hall of Fame, and she appreciates getting around $3,500 every year to cover the cost.

“I think that’s so important for people in this community to see that kids give back when they graduate,” she added. “It’s so nice of him to do this. He helps us continue to do the Elite 20. That’s the only way we can do it. I’m so proud that we started it in 2013, and that we’re still able to continue it with this,” Bauer added that the exciting part of the event is when the students present about their teacher they choose because they go deep into why that person helped them throughout the years or a teacher that became a mentor.

Students are recognized and picked for their community service, academics, character and leadership, according to Bauer, and the teachers are the ones that vote for who should be in the Elite 20.

“Listening and hearing what their plans are for the future, that’s what the Elite 20’s about,” Bauer said. “20 students get up there, and talk about their teacher, and what teacher they chose that helped them become what they continue to do.”

Running a daycare for 43 years, and watching kids grow up in the district, Bauer said she is excited for what the kids she helped raise will accomplish. She also said as an EF alumni, the district is very important to her, and it brings pride for the district.

“I respect the administration and the teachers, and anyone that’s involved with our school district, so I want this to continue,” she added. “I’m so proud of our kids, what they have become, from the little tikes that I had, graduating every year from Elizabeth Forward.”

The Elite 20 students are as follows (with the teachers who nominated them in parenthesis) Claire Balint (Brandon Gerba), Nicholas Crossett (Maggie Weagley), Dillon Cummings (Tara Wemyss), Edward Denney (Angela Milliren), Bailey Dora (Kathy Kluegel), Margaret Douglass (Shawna Boden), Connor Egan (Alana Wieclaw), Nathan Grimm (Brandon Gerba), Bryce McLaughlin (Robert Raffaele), Ryan Messina (Matthew Flaus), Mya Morgan (Michael Day), Addyson Nigut (Frank Champ), Nathan Pozzuto (Jessica Gabrielson), Lillian Racunas (Amanda Rose), Julia Resnik (Frank Champ), Tyler Scott (Tricia Nigut), Mia Ann Smith (Michael Day), Brendan Stroschein (Michael Day), Brodie Weagley (Malena Mazurek) and Brooke Yurkovich (Amanda Rose).