Local Rotarians will honor students of academic excellence at an event Sunday.

The Rotary Club of Cape Girardeau will hold their first leadership summit from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, April 24, at Century Casino-Cape Girardeau. The club will honor the top 10% of seniors from Cape Girardeau Central, Saxony Lutheran and Notre Dame Regional high schools with a certificate and training transitioning into college according to Abbie Crites-Leoni, chairwoman of the John Blue Academic Leadership Committee.

"We will have an inspirational speaker at the very beginning, Jimmy Williams, a heart transplant survivor," she said. "Then we will have two breakout sessions. One is focusing on the fact that going from high school to college is a time of transition for young people perhaps leaving home for the first time. The other session is more focused on leadership and time management."

The meeting will end with teaching the students in attendance how the Rotary Club functions and the importance of civic engagement. Students will receive a T-shirt and bedding plant to give to their parents as a form of thanking them for raising them. Four dozen students from the three schools will be recognized, and more than 30 will be in attendance at the event, Crites-Leoni said.

The summit was started by John Blue who believed academic excellence from local students should be recognized by the club, which initiated the John Blue excellence dinner. Blue believed accolades were given to students with athletic achievements and students who perform well in academics should also receive recognition.

The club has held a banquet every spring since Blue came up with the idea in 1959, but was unable to during 2020 and 2021 due to COVID. This year, members of the club decided to do something more substantive to honor the students and agreed on the leadership summit.

"This is so different from what we've done in the past," Crites-Leoni said. "We're starting small, and our goal is to next year expand substantially if it goes well and make it a series and not just include three schools. Our club has responded to it with great enthusiasm, and I'm hoping the kids really do get something meaningful out of it."