New Wildcat Wall of Fame Inductees Allow Seven Belleville Graduating Seniors to Showcase Their Gifts

By: 
Marie Perry, Communications Director for the School District of Belleville

BHS Seniors Madeline Miller, Rachel Carl, Kendyl Gastel, and Skyler Beyer honor new 2023 Wildcat Wall of Fame inductees and their families. From left: Charles Fitch (Darrell Fitch), Madeline Miller, Rachel Carl, Gene Wick, Kendyl Gastel, Douglas Gall (Richard Gall) and Skyler Beyer. Photo courtesy of Marie Perry

 

School strives to prepare its students for college and careers as they grow and develop, but it also provides some unique opportunities for students to share their gifts with the larger Belleville community and institutional history of Belleville High School.  Graduation time allows us to reflect on what it means to be prepared to leave one’s high school and enter a new phase of life or, in the case of some, return to their roots and reflect on what it meant to be a part of a high school community in a small rural Wisconsin town.  So as three new 2023 Wildcat Wall of Fame inductees were honored at a ceremony during the last days before graduation at Belleville High School (BHS), the event also showcased the work of some very special graduating seniors who lent their talents to the process.

As Darrell Fitch, Richard Gall, and Gene Wick took their places this year on the Wildcat Wall of Fame, the work that went on behind the scenes was unveiled to all in attendance.  From research to fine art, seniors Madeline Miller, Rachel Carl, Kendyl Gastel, Skyler Beyer, Ella Blask, Annika Esselstrom and Kailee Nowak worked tirelessly to make this event special.  These students helped in the process to select and commemorate the accomplishments of these new inductees who were chosen for the way they served Belleville and will stand as models to all who continue to pass through the halls of its high school.  Standing tall among their senior classmates, these seven students also modeled what it means to serve and embodied the “Wildcat Way” as they honored those who went before them.  It gives reason to pause and understand how much a strong community relies on the cyclical contributions of its members and how intergenerational relationships are highly important – there is so much to learn from one another and it reminds us all that when we give back, we make the same advantages possible that were once given to us!

District Administrator Nate Perry especially applauds the artistic talent this year that makes the Wildcat Wall of Fame a special place of honor, “Having had student participation with the Wildcat Wall of Fame process for the last seven years, this year’s student drawings for the three inductees’ plaques were the best collective effort that we have ever had.  Thanks goes to Belleville High School Art Teacher Jon Benash for recruiting and guiding these student arts.  I applaud Ella Blask, Annika Esselstrom, and Kailee Nowak for their artistic contributions.  Theirs is simply fantastic work that we are proud to display in our halls!”

As Darrell Fitch, who served the School District of Belleville for 30 years as the Belleville High School (BHS) Principal and finally Superintendent; Richard Gall, a 1958 graduate of BHS who later started Communication Technologies, Inc. (CTI); and Gene Wick, with nearly 25 years with the School District of Belleville teaching Mathematics, were honored, Belleville High School presents a larger picture to its community.  When we pause to honor those who make a difference and dig deep to draw upon our own talents to shed light and thank those who made our schools a better place, we teach ourselves what truly matters at the end of the day – kindness and service to others!  These are the gifts that keep on giving for a lifetime and beyond.

Note:  Please visit https://www.belleville.k12.wi.us/district/wildcat-wall-of-fame.cfm to learn more about the Wildcat Wall of Fame inductees.