Organized by counselor Jake Donohoe, the annual senior awards night on May 22 featured recognitions in English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Foreign Languages.
Art, Drama, Journalism, National Merit, Physical Education, the California Scholarship Federation and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation all presented honors to the nearly 60 seniors in attendance. 2 students, Marina Han and Dhruv Suri, were named National Merit Finalists.
“[The point] was to acknowledge high achievements,” said Donohoe.
Han was awarded the California Scholarship Federation Lifetime Membership Award, an English award and a Social Studies Award. “I think it was organized pretty well. It was efficiently carried out. I think it was really nice how people were recognized for their four years of hard work,” said Han. “When I won the award I was actually feeling surprised because I thought I was only there for the California Scholarship Federation Award. It was very kind of my teachers to honor me with the Social Studies and English award,” she said.
“We have departments that nominate candidates and then an admin and counseling team pulls that down into recipients,” said Donohoe. Awards are not limited to academics and can include athletes as well. “In the past we’ve had scholar athletes receive awards,” she said. This year, an athletic award went to senior Jeremy Dunbar.
Senior Zach Scherer was awarded the Math Plaque and a Certificate from the Physical Science Department. “My main goal was to always do the best in my classes and if that meant getting awards now, that’s great, but I was just really focused on doing the best I could in my classes,” said Scherer.
“I was thrilled to win the awards. It was great to get recognition for putting in hard work in all four years of high school,” he added.
“I think the most expensive part are the plaques that we issue to students, and I think that runs around 300 dollars, give or take. It’s paid for by the senior class,” said Donohoe.