Gretchen McCarthy
Editorial Director
@GretchenCourant
On Friday May 29, seniors and juniors were recognized for their outstanding work and dedication in the annual Recognition Assembly. This assembly features many awards that cover a wide range of academic interests, athletic pursuits and community service work.
This year there were many emotionally charged awards that commemorated students and educators who had a profound impact on the NCHS community, but were lost before their time. The first annual Kay Timmis Award was given to senior Carly Risom for embodying Ms. Timmis’ legacy of kindness, warmth, generosity of spirit and unwavering support for fellow students. A special one-time scholarship award was given to seniors Riley O’Neill and Grace Stryker in honor of Mikey Czech, who would have been a senior this year but passed away in 2008 from an inoperable pediatric brain tumor.
Grace and Mikey were friends before he became sick when they were in fifth grade. This friendship made an already emotional award even more important for Grace as she remembered her friend. “I was crying prior to receiving the award just thinking of Mikey. When they called my name I honestly could not believe it. It meant so much to me just to hear my name and know that I shared the same characteristics as Mikey,” Grace said. “Once I went up there and hugged both Mr. and Mrs. Czech I couldn’t help but become more emotional thinking about how much I really did miss him at that moment.”
With an average of 130 awards given out, the program encompasses many of the activities that take place each year here at NCHS. “We make it our business to have a program that recognizes a variety of interests,” Assistant Principal Ari Rothman said. “We make sure in putting the program together that we know as much as possible about the entire senior class and find ways to recognize as many of them as we can.”
This wide range of students and activities allows the entire senior class to celebrate the achievements of their peers throughout their final days together at NCHS. Senior Veronica Ma, who was awarded the Robert Gardner Award for the study of history and the Excellence in Spanish Award this year, feels that the assembly allows students to come together and recognize the hard work of their classmates. “It’s awesome to celebrate the diverse achievements of my classmates and friends,” Veronica said. “It’s definitely humbling to be included with them.”
The process of choosing a final recipient for an award starts with nominations by teachers or coaches and is followed by a meeting in which candidates are presented to the department. Discussing candidates as a department allows teachers to familiarize themselves with the work and personality of a student. “I want to get a sense from the teachers of what they’re seeing in the classroom,” Math Department Chair Anthony Bloss said. “A lot of the descriptions for these awards characterize kids who exert leadership, creativity, promise and those aren’t things you can tell by looking at a transcript.”
In addition to looking at a student’s work as a whole, teachers also take into account the level of commitment to a study and a student’s performance throughout their entire career at NCHS. “We try to recognize students who have grown tremendously during the years or someone who might be on the shy side but shows extreme dedication,” English Department Chair Heidi D’Acosta said.
A student’s interest can also increase the personal weight an award holds for them. The importance of an award can be augmented by a student’s time and dedication to the study of a subject. “I was especially excited to get the Excellence in Spanish award, as I’ve seen myself grow a lot since my struggles with Spanish as a freshman,” Veronica said. “Through my time in high school, I’ve become very passionate about the subject in large part due to my teacher of three years, Dr. Arbues.”
Even though the ninety minute assembly features 130 awards across a plethora of interests and activities, teachers face the difficult task of narrowing down a pool of candidates filled with many worthy recipients. “Of the over 1,300 students we have each year and all their great work, we only get to recognize fewer than ten in Social Studies,” Social Studies Department Chair Robert Stevenson said. “That’s less than 1% of the student body each year, less than 3% of the senior class.”
Mr. Stevenson feels that the depth of talent and dedication here at NCHS makes choosing only one or two students for each award a very difficult task. “We like to come to a consensus and that’s almost impossible with so many great kids here that we want to reward and recognize for their great work,” Mr. Stevenson said. “I’d like to see more students recognized for their work in Social Studies.”
The task of narrowing the candidates down to a final award recipient weighs heavily on teachers who feel that there are many ways to appreciate a student’s talents outside of this recognition assembly. “It’s a little bit bittersweet at times because you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings and we do care so deeply about our students,” Ms. D’Acosta said. “I hope that we’re the kind of school that recognizes students all year long and not just this one ceremony because our students are gifted in many ways, both personally and academically.”
