Ellie Kerrigan of Belleville High School was given the statewide “2024 Yes I Can Self-Advocacy Award” by the Michigan Council of Exceptional Children and addressed the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education at March 11 meeting.
Special Education teacher Connie Testorelli said Ellie is strong-willed and determined and has been throughout her school years, not letting her wheelchair keep her from participating fully in whatever she set out to do.
She has a driver’s license and drives to her job as a receptionist at a hair salon. She is a member of the BHS Marching Band and will be going to the University of Arizona.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. You can make things happen,” she told the board.
Three BHS students who were among the 2,500 students who attended the recent statewide student council conference in Grand Rapids also were honored by the school board at the March 11 meeting.
Ivana Goff was named to the board of delegates of the conference and Karla Rivera and Kennede Robinson were part of the Michigan Leader Showcase and presented the real voting for student council officers the student council sponsors with voting machines supplied by Van Buren Township. They said other schools indicated they wished to replicate what BHS does for voting.