Levi Sayles. Photo courtesy Bethel-Tate Local Schools.
In late February, Bethel-Tate High School Principal George Sturgeon announced that Levi Sayles is the Valedictorian for the Class of 2023 and Ella Kanis is the Salutatorian.
Levi Sayles is the son of Deanna Sayles and Brad Sayles. After high school, Levi plans to attend college to pursue a degree in data science. He hopes to take up another internship in his field of interest in order to gain a better understanding of the field and how it works. Additionally, he plans to continue running once recovered from a knee injury.
Throughout high school, extracurriculars and sports were a big part of Levi’s world. Levi is a member of the National Honor Society, and his athletic teams include cross country, soccer, wrestling, and track and field teams. He participated in most all four years of high school with the exception of wrestling and Cross Country/Track. Levi was a member of the wrestling team during his sophomore and junior years. And he was part of the cross-country and track teams for six years.
“It is always a funny story with those two sports because I hated them when I first started,” he responded in a questionnaire. “However, as I started to spend more time with the people in the sport, I began to fall in love with running.”
Understandably, Levi is proud to say, “I am the Valedictorian.”
“However, I feel that this is just the beginning as there is so much more I want to achieve,” he wrote. “In my mind, this is just one of the first steps of many that I am going to take along my journey.”
Ella Kanis is the daughter of Erin Kanis and the granddaughter of Patty and Rick Kanis. This fall, she will attend Xavier University and major in biomedical sciences.
Throughout her high school experience, Ella managed to excel academically while also participating in an impressive list of sports and clubs including: National Honor Society (president), Principal Advisory Committee, varsity soccer, varsity cross country, and varsity track and field.
“The highlight of high school for me was being able to play sports while also maintaining my grades. Especially soccer, which is the sport I love the most,” Ella wrote in a questionnaire.
Of being Salutatorian, Ella wrote, “I feel very accomplished. Of course, I wanted to be valedictorian, but I am still very proud of myself for coming in second.”
You can read more about Levi and Ella on our website. https://www.betheltate.org/article/1031347