2025 ECCHS – Kreckel Enterprises Inc. Student of the Year

On Friday, December 20th, Kreckel Enterprises Inc. presented their 2025 Student of the Year award to William Wortman, son of Rob and DeeDee Wortman of St. Marys. The presentation was made at Elk County Catholic High School following the school mass held in the auditorium. Will is a member of the ECCHS Class of 2025 and has played 2 years of Football, one year for ECC, and one-year co-op with St. Marys Area High School. Will has played Basketball for the Crusaders for the past 4 years and participates in Track in the Spring. Will is an outstanding student liked by his peers, teachers, and coaches.

The Kreckel family has presented this award every December just before Christmas for the past seven years. The winners include Isabella Macer 2024, Adam Straub 2023, Holly Buttery 2022, Olivia Matha 2021, Maddison Taylor 2020, Isaac Gradl 2019, and Kendra Smithbauer 2018. Each winner has a name plaque and photograph on the Award Wall inside the Kreckel Enterprises plant on Delaum Road in St. Marys.

The award is presented in memory of the late Lavern Kreckel Jr., a 1963 Elk County Christian High School graduate, the first class out of the school. Kreckel had a long career in the local industry, working as a Machinist and Tool and Die Maker at Powder Metal Products/ MPP Washington Street Division for 45 years. Along with his son, he helped to establish Kreckel Enterprises Inc.