Wadsworth High School held the annual Academic Award Ceremony for students and families on Wednesday, November 21.
The ceremony was arranged by assistant principal Richard Sullivan, Michele Adams and Kristen Highland. Sullivan worked closely with students and families to plan and prepare for the ceremony last Wednesday night.
“We needed to contact and inform all students who were eligible for their award, and we needed to let their families know too in order to get that RSVP so we could get a rough head count,” Sullivan said.
In order for students to get an award, they had to have a year-to-date grade point average, or GPA, of 3.7 or higher from the previous school year. Exam grades also played into this GPA, not just quarterly grades. Students who were eligible received an email notifying them of their award. From there, their families could RSVP to the event.
During last year’s ceremony, all students completed a form with information about things they did academically and in their free time, such as clubs, hobbies, and sports. This year, however, things ran a little differently. Only third-year recipients had information shared about them.
“The information that we presented about each student was saved for the third-year award recipients,” Sullivan said. “The reason we did that was to give them a little bit more of the spotlight but also to make sure that we honor everybody’s time. So it was a delicate balance, and with it being my first year in charge of the awards ceremony, I wanted to get a feel for how everything was without changing it too much.”
Sullivan also expressed his happiness with attendance for this year’s ceremony.
“Post Covid our numbers kind of dwindled and our attendance wasn’t as good as it had been in the past,” Sullivan said. “However, the other day, when we held it, our PAC was pretty full. So that was really exciting and it makes me look forward to next year.”
While the ceremony is a fun way for families to honor the accomplishments of their high school students, there is much more to the ceremony than meets the eye.
“We’re trying to prepare our young people for the rest of their lives, and one of the ways we measure their preparedness is through their grades and academics,” Sullivan said. “So, we want to honor our students who are really committed the best we can to meet the high standard for our building.”
Not only was Sullivan happy with the results, but students were as well. Several expressed their gratefulness for being included in the ceremony and receiving an award, including sophomore Winter Hall.
“It was cool to see everybody up on stage receiving their award, and it was nice to get one for myself,” Hall said.
Wadsworth High School will continue to hold the awards ceremony and honor its students with Sullivan’s help in the years to come.