Suggestions for HS academic awards criteria

driver
Sun, 05 Nov 2006 08:30:03 +0000

Following up on what Renee said:

Our school has all the traditional awards based on the cold, hard facts of academic performance–val, sal, science, math, writing, languages, compsci, etc. If someone “sweeps” the awards, it’s because they earned it, and there really are no hard feelings–we love to follow those kids in their post HS careers, with pride and affection. We also have an award named for an alumna who died, tragically, way too young; It’s given to an outstanding student who is also outstanding in other areas, but always kind of in the shadow of those who are tops in any specific area.

This is the award the the faculty agonizes over (the “Underdog” award–“Thank you, Shoeshine Boy, you are humble and lovable”)–as they are identifying the student that they feel best represents the end product they have been trying to produce–and it’s the one that gets everyone choked up when it’s given, because it invariably goes to some wonderful kid that everyone adores, who has not quite been able to beat out all competition in a specific area, but is extremely smart, talented, nice, well-rounded and the one you would want your kid to marry.