On Wednesday April 30, 2014, parents, teachers, and students gathered in the auditorium at 6:30 pm to attend the annual Awards Ceremony. This ceremony honors a variety of students for their outstanding abilities.

From freshmen to seniors, students were recognized for many of their different talents. Students were awarded for their academic excellence, their athletic dedication, and their ‘cavalier-like’ characteristics. Although less than one hundred students were selected to receive awards, none of the students knew what they would be awarded for.

“I knew I was getting something because I got an invitation, but I had no idea what it was and I was pleasantly surprised,” Freshman of Distinction winner Sydney Scanlon said.

The masters of the ceremony were seniors Max Wood and Tia Plagata. With their enthusiasm and organization, the show ran smoothly. Mrs. Barrow also entertained the audience when presenting several awards. She specifically gathered attention by rapping Cristian Alonso’s accomplishments when presenting him with the Senior Silver Award.

“Her[Mrs. Barrow’s] rap was definitely an alarm clock for all of the drowsy parents in the auditorium. It was creative and funny, very entertaining,” sophomore Maya Iskandarani said.

The process of the Awards Ceremony is a lengthy and tedious job that was taken on by senior Patricia Passwaters and junior Claire Shillington. Leading up to the event, the students that were nominated for an award had to go through an application process and be hand-selected by their teachers. Passwaters and Shillington ordered awards, planned speeches, and prepared the entire occasion from beginning to end, in order for the night to be a success.

“The whole faculty nominated a limited number of students per grade and if a student was nominated twice, they received an application. From there, those who submitted the applications were voted on by faculty, and then a smaller committee used the applications and those numbers to match each award to a person. We’ve been working on the awards ceremony since November and towards the end we put in the most work, but it was completely worth it after a successful ceremony,” junior Claire Shillington said.

This year’s winners are said to be a group of great students that could possibly excel as future business leaders. Among them are athletes, scholars, class presidents, and major volunteer workers.

“These students have bright futures ahead of them. They really are a great group and stand out among their peers,” Ms. Zaldivar said.