Q3 high school awards ceremonies were held online on February 13 and 15 to celebrate HS students’ efforts to improve and excel in their classes.

The assemblies were hosted online, allowing for a wide audience to acknowledge the student’s success both in academics and Character Counts. A total of 151 academic awards and 24 Character Counts awards were presented to the students.

“It’s really important to recognize and appreciate all of the wonderful things our students are doing because we have a lot of great students doing a lot of great things,” Paul Navarra, HS Vice-Principal, said

A total of four assemblies were held, one for each grade. For grades 11 and 12 on February 13 and for grades 9 and 10 on February 15. The ceremonies were conducted in Spanish and each featured four speakers, including Paul Navarra, Juan David Lopéz, the corresponding counselor, and a teacher from each grade year.

“We value celebrating and acknowledging our students’ achievements, which is why we put effort into planning the event and held it virtually to increase accessibility,” Ana Isabel Garcia, HS counselor, said.

High school teachers selected two students for an award in each subject they teach. The first award is for their most outstanding student, while the second award is for the most improved student.

“I have some students that consistently get fours and very rarely get three point fives, which is very difficult in an AP class, so that’s how I choose who gets most outstanding. For most improvement, I think about people who have really just put in a lot of effort into my courses,” Gabriela Passentino, AP Calculus Teacher, said.

Navarra and López opened all four ceremonies by providing an overview of the agenda. The teacher awards were presented first, followed by character counts awards presented by the counselor, and finally, the perfect attendance and academic responsibility and behavior awards were presented by either López or Navarra.

“I am very grateful to the school for planning the ceremony. I can tell a lot of work was put into the logistics and planning of it; it went very smoothly and everything was simple. Hopefully, the same event will be carried out next year,” Maria Claudia Marín, parent attendee, said

Teachers believe that the awards ceremony is a great way to encourage students to excel academically, display integrity, and develop good character traits. This is because the awards included recognition for both academic achievement and positive character traits.

“I think it was important to recognize the students that have been working hard and those that have made improvements in their academics. This is important because it shows other students that they will be recognized for their hard work and will hopefully encourage other students to work harder,” Brian Summers, AP Human Geography Teacher said.

While there were some concerns that these awards could potentially upset students who were not nominated or did not win, the general consensus among teachers, students, and staff is that the benefits of the rewards outweigh any potential drawbacks.

“I really liked what the school did to recognize students’ achievements both in the academic angle and character count angle. It really motivates me to keep up my efforts and do even better next semester,” Emiliana Gomez, award winner, said.