Student of the Month (SOTM) is the highest level of recognition for Sterling High School seniors. SOTM winners are students who have challenged themselves with rigorous courses, are involved in activities and/or athletics, have taken on a leadership role within the school community, and portray Sterling High School as a positive light in the community. The two seniors recognized for the month of May are Alice Sotelo and Tristian Oelrichs. 

  Sotelo has taken numerous AP and accelerated courses during her time at S.H.S. while earning a GPA of 3.76. Some of the courses that she has taken are Accelerated Biology, Accelerated English 1 & 2, Accelerated Chemistry, AP Lang, AP Chemistry, AP US History, and AP Psychology. 

  Even while taking these courses, Sotelo has been involved in track and participates on the school’s poms team. During her four years at S.H.S., she made the track All-Conference, All-State team, junior season MVP, Sectional Champion, and State Champion. For Poms, she was a captain for all four years/seven seasons. 

  Outside of school, Alice likes working on her family farm, working at the Twin Cities Farmers Market, spending time in the weight room, and track training. 

  Sotelo plans to attend North Central College to further her education and received a scholarship for track and field. 

  The second Student of the Month winner is Tristan Oelrichs. Oelrichs has taken a numerous amount of AP and accelerated courses in his high school career while accumulating a GPA of 4.156. Oelrichs has taken Accelerated Biology, Accelerated English 1, Accelerated Geometry, AP Human Geography, AP Biology, AP US History, Accelerated English 2, Accelerated Algebra 2, Accelerated Chemistry, AP Chemistry, Pre-Calculus (Junior Year), and Math 121 (at Sauk Valley Community College). He has also been a Rotary Nominee all four years of high school, an AP Scholar, four years on the Honor Roll, has been invited to Rotary Lunch (Junior year), and is an Illinois State Scholar. 

  While taking these courses, Oelrichs has been involved in the National Honor Society, Scholastic Bowl team, tennis team, and bowling team. Tristan also accomplished a bowling high game of 283 during his junior and senior years, a high series of 715, and received the MVP award his senior year. 

  Outside of school, Oelrichs likes volunteering at Happy Tails Animal Shelter and working concession stands. While having downtime, Oelrichs’ hobbies include bowling, disc golfing, reading, traveling, and coin collecting. In addition to all of these activities, Oelrichs plans to attend Sauk Valley Community College this Fall for two years while majoring in biology. After he gets his associate’s degree, he plans to transfer to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to get his bachelor’s degree in biology. 

  These two went above and beyond to help achieve their overall goals and helped raise the expectations here at Sterling High School.