On February 27th, students who received the Sheriff’s Award were celebrated with a delicious breakfast in the PAC.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Award is just one benefit of completing community service during high school. This award is given to students grades 9-12 that have completed 100 or more hours of community service between September 1st through August 31st. Having 100 or more hours also grants a student the ability to wear a teal chord at graduation. 

In years past the Sheriff’s Award was a medal of honor, however, “With budget constraints they stopped the medal of honor and they are just giving out certificates,” said Nancy Kermer, the Community Service Coordinator at Sandburg. However, it still is an amazing award to receive as it recognizes the impact of the student’s service to his or her community. 

To honor the recipients for this year’s Sheriff’s Award, these students were rewarded with a breakfast during 2nd period in the PAC on February 27th. This year, Sandburg’s 35 students that were honored completed 4,761 hours in one year and 8,197.25 hours in all years at Sandburg. 

Community service is beneficial to not only the people of the community but the students as well. It can help build a student’s skill set; for example, it helps on job resumes and college applications. 

Kermer said, “Once you do community service it stays on your record forever.” It is a great learning experience not only for a possible special interest, and it also helps build one’s social skills. 

These students have shown their dedication to community service with the help of Ms. Nancy Kermer. “I keep very good track of their hours. When I enter hours into Skyward, I always list the dates that the hours are for. And when I go ahead and check their hours, I make sure that they’re between those dates and that they qualify,” said Kermer. 

Ms. Kermer delivered a speech regarding the hard work of the students who have received this award while the students feasted on different flavored donuts and various bagels. Overall, this year’s breakfast was filled with not only delicious foods, but also meaningful recognition for the students that have worked hard for the Sheriff’s award and contributed to their communities.