July 11, 2016

A Star-Studded Evening at the Academy Awards

Mercy Home friends and family gathered for our annual Academy Awards Banquet on Thursday, June 16. The evening provided a great opportunity to recognize the significant efforts, perseverance, and growth of our boys and girls during the past year, as well as to celebrate their well-earned accomplishments.

The Academy Awards is an annual event for Mercy Home Boys & Girls academic accomplishments they’ve achieved in the past year. We recognize the successes of many of our young boys and girls and celebrate their accomplishments.

Academy Vice President Pat Bittorf served as emcee for the evening, and kicked off the event by welcoming and thanking the audience for supporting our young men and women.

He then welcomed Fr. Scott to the podium for the evening’s invocation. Fr. Scott echoed Bittorf’s sentiments and, as he had at our Graduates’ Luncheon earlier this year, asked our young people to stand and look around at the love and support that filled the room on their behalf.

After dinner, featured youth speaker Alan from Quille Home addressed the audience with a compelling speech about his struggles and accomplishments while at Mercy Home.

Education is the powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. – Nelson Mandela

Fr. Scott and Bittorf then began the awards presentations by honoring St. Malachy School with the Mercy Home Educators Award, recognizing the school’s exemplary service and commitment to educating our young people.

Coworkers from our Education & Career Resources and AfterCare departments were next to the stage, sharing praise for our kids’ progress throughout the academic year, and presenting each young person with a unique award. Among the youth recognized was Sylvester of Cooke Home, who was acknowledged as this year’s recipient of the Mary Dempsey Scholarship to help him begin his undergraduate career at Northern Illinois University.

The final awards for the night were presented by two shining stars in our AfterCare program: one young man who completed his undergraduate degree, and Wayne H., who will be transferring to Morehouse College in the fall. The duo helped to honor Markese of Cooke Home and Josefina of Couderc Home as “Academy All-Stars,” awards given to one young woman and one young man who exhibited hard work and commitment to academic excellence throughout the school year.

Mercy Home Board of Regents chairman Joe Nolan provided closing remarks, congratulating all of our young men and women on their achievements and recognizing Mercy Home coworkers who helped make the event a memorable evening. He also reflected on the importance of academics, highlighting a quote from Nelson Mandela: “Education is the powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” “I can’t improve on that,” Mr. Nolan said simply.

Thank you to our supporters and to all of our coworkers who ensured this year’s Mercy Home’s Academy Awards were a success, and congratulations to all of our young people on their academic accomplishments!