HERMANN – This year’s Bearcat Memorial Award has been issued to an educator who focused her efforts on those students most in need in schools in Hermann.

The late Cathy Elsenraat on Friday, Sept. 4, was formally announced as the winner of the 2026 Bearcat Memorial Award. Elsenraat, 70, is a former educator who died on Christmas Day 2023 at her Rhineland home surrounded by family and friends.

She was a special education teacher who began her career in Tipton, Missouri, and who later taught at St. George School before joining the staff the Gasconade County R-1 School District..

Elsenraat was born in Washington, D.C., May 19, 1953, a daughter of John and Nancy Bartel. On April 19,1980, she was married to the late Bernardd Elsenraat at St. George Church.

The Bearcat Memorial Award is presented to those members of the community who during their lifetime made a lasting impact on the schools of Hermann and the community in general.

District officials held the recognition ceremony the afternoon of Sept. 4 in the Hermann High School Auditorium. The ceremony was followed by the placement of the memorial brick by Elsenraat’s family members inside Bearcat Memorial Stadium prior to the Bearcats’ football game with South Callaway.

Nominations for the memorial award are received from the community earlier in the year and the nominations are considered by a committee that makes a recommendation to the R-1 administration. The administrations makes its recommendation to the R-1 Board of Directors, which has the final vote on the recipient.