Sportsman's Lodge brings you the “Student of the Week” which will highlight accomplishments by the city’s outstanding high school students.  Sportsman's Lodge will provide each honored student with a $15 gift card to use at their family restaurant.

Each week, one student from each high school will be chosen by their principal to be featured for achievements including citizenship, volunteerism, leadership, academics, and much more. 

Brentwood High School - Eric Donahue, valedictorian 

Eric Kegan Donahue graduated from Brentwood High School last month as valedictorian of the Class of 2011 and will attend the University of Notre Dame.

Eric achieved a 4.556 grade point average while also serving as trombone section leader and band operations manager in the BHS marching band, making Eagle rank in Boy Scouts, and earning black belt, sensei (teacher) at the American Karate Academy.

“It was a real honor to be the BHS Class of 2011 Valedictorian," he said. "Since there are so many bright students at Brentwood, I have had to work really hard over the past four years to reach this goal.”

Part of Eric's honor as valedictorian was to speak at graduation. “At first I was really nervous about giving a speech, but once I got started, I started to have fun with it," he said. "I think the audience really enjoyed it, and that was what I set out to do.”

At BHS Eric also served as president of Science National Honor Society, vice president of Habitat for Humanity and was a member of Mu Alpha Theta, National Honor Society, Junior Engineering Technological Society (JETS). He also is a member of Holy Family Catholic Church.

In addition to marching band, he also performed in the Wind Ensemble, jazz band and the basketball pep band.

“I’d have to say the best part of high school was my experience with the band program," Eric said. "Between meeting new people, playing challenging new music and going to all sorts of exciting places, I had a blast. I loved making music with the band, and I’m going to miss it a lot next year.”

Brentwood High School - Leah Richardson, salutatorian

Leah Richardson is a senior whose work ethic and well-rounded personality made her a standout student. Leah boasts a GPA of 4.49 and graduated with the title of salutatorian for the class of 2011 from Brentwood High.

At BHS, Leah was involved in chorus, National Honor Society and Science Honor Society. Outside of school Leah is heavily involved in the church choir at Brentwood United Methodist Church. She has also been a tutor as well as a soccer coach for younger girls.

“Leah Richardson is one of the most outstanding, well-rounded students at Brentwood High School. She is known by faculty and fellow students as a leader and hard worker in many areas, including chorus, NHS, and SNHS. Her strong dedication, work ethic, and organization skills are consistent with her dedication in the classroom where she takes all honors and AP classes,” said prinicpal Kevin Keidel.

“Dedication and determination to fund SNHS activities was the task accepted and completed by Leah,” said teacher Ashley Seth.

This fall Leah will attend Washington University in St. Louis,  where she will study biomedical engineering.