Noon Rotary Club Honors Six High School Students

Six area high school seniors received a special award from the Noon Rotary Club of Zanesville Tuesday. 

The seniors receiving the Phoenix Outstanding Citizen Award have overcome a difficult challenge in their lives. The recipients ranged from some overcoming illness to two of them having a child early in high school.

Tri-Valley Senior, Matt Fellows, contracted enterovirus D68 last year and lost muscle control for some time. He is now graduating with a 4.0 GPA. He said he couldn’t believe that his counselor nominated him for this award. 

"It was a surprise really," he said. "I’m more than happy to — I can’t even explain it really. I was shocked at the thought of them actually nominating me for something like this. I was happy I was able to share my experience with everyone."

John Glenn Senior, Kaylee Ansel, also received the award Tuesday. She gave birth to her daughter MaKenna when she was just 15. Now, after a few years, she is overwhelmed by the support she has gotten.

"It is absolutely amazing," Ansel said. "I never really took the time to see what people actually thought about people facing the challenge of being a teen mom. And I don’t know, I was in utter disbelief when I found out about it."

Along with Ansel and Fellows, Seniors Alec Shook of Maysville, Cameron Kuhn of West Muskingum, Nick Young of Philo and Amy West of Zanesville High School received the Phoenix Award Tuesday.