Knicely Done: Now 93 years for Rotary 8th grade honor roll

The Downtown Rotary Club of Omaha continued it's long history of recognizing exceptional 8th grade students in the metro area but without the usual celebration.

"It's really sad we weren't able to hold the luncheon this year because of the virus," said Downtown Rotary President Camille Metoyer Moten in an interview with WOWT 6 News.

The tradition has been to gather the more than 400 8th grade honor students at what is now the CHI Health Center and treat them to a luncheon program extolling their accomplishments.

"It all started with a tradition to embrace all the qualities that Rotary also embraces," said Metoyer Moten. "That includes Integrity, leadership, character, all the things that we feel helps the community to be the best it can be."

Along with honors for the 8th grade students, the Better Business Bureau presents service awards to select 10th grade students who were themselves Rotary honor roll students in the 8th grade. They are featured in the Knicely Done newscast segment attached to this story.

In addition Downtown Rotary presents 6 college scholarships to high school seniors who also were 8th grade honor roll recipients.

The winners this year:

Yexalen Jaramillo Omaha South

Joseph Oberlies Creighton Prep

Brittney Yanez-Romo Omaha South

Reese Pike Omaha Westside

Emily Saalfeld Omaha Marian

Trevor Seaman Douglas County West

Next May you expect the Downtown Rotary Club to roll out another celebration of excellence in Metro area schools.

Knicely Done!