Ever since COVID-19 hit the halls of Coral Gables Senior High, in-person activities like school club meetings and classes have all been virtual. Despite these less-than-ideal circumstances, students have managed to keep up their academics and extracurricular involvement, working hard to impress their teachers. From this list of exceptional students, a select few are chosen by teachers to receive an award at the Gables Annual Award Ceremony.

Usually, there are about 40 awards that students can be nominated for that include but are not limited to: academic awards for Grade Point Averages, student leaders, grade level distinctions for both sexes, university awards for juniors and miscellaneous awards like the “You Make My Day Award.” These awards are usually presented in the form of plaques, with the exception of the university awards, which are presented as medals.

In order for a student to be selected for an award, two or more teachers have to nominate them. From there, the student will receive an awards application that asks for the school organizations they have participated in, how they have contributed to Gables, their extracurriculars and the honors and recognitions that they have received so far. After they turn in their application, a committee made up of teachers evaluates the responses. Activities Director Ms.Suarez is in charge of the Awards Committee and gets a helping hand from Gables’ very own CavsTV Co-Editor-in-Chief, Natalie Abrahantes.

“Planning the award ceremony is not only fun, but it is also so rewarding seeing everything run smoothly after so many hours of hard work. Although we will not be holding a physical awards ceremony, I am still very excited to put together the virtual ceremony for all those students who received awards,” senior Natalie Abrahantes said.

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Although the selection process is dependent on teachers, there are a handful of students from the Student Activities class that work with them behind the scenes. Before COVID-19, these students would make sure that the awards were prepared and would keep track of which student would be receiving what award. This year, they were in charge of reaching out to the students that were nominated via email and transferring the information from the awards application that was due on Feb. 24th.

“Our awards team is sadly separated this year since some of the students are at home and some of us are in person. Thankfully, I am in school with two other girls and we were able to work together through the whole process to make sure it all goes smoothly,” senior Jeyra Rivero-Díaz said.

Originally the awards committee wanted to hold ceremonies in person and separate the students by grade level. However, it was decided against since it would have been difficult to organize the event with both in-person students and the My School Online students since the MSO kids would have to come to school physically. Currently, the committee is instead planning to hold the awards ceremony via a video that will be voiced over as the winners are announced. As for the collection of the awards, a drive-by will be held.

Although there is no estimated date for the Gables Annual Award Ceremony, the Student Activities student and the teacher committee are working hard to make the event memorable for the selected Cavaliers.