Throughout the month of April academic awards were held for grades 9-11. After core and elective classes announced their awards, Heritage Principal Mr. Osmel Rodriguez, Vice Principal Mrs. Cashman and Academy Principal Mrs. Lana Buchalter along with the Heritage faculty and staff gathered to recognize selected students for the Outstanding and Patriot Award.
To be eligible for the Outstanding Award, students must be in the top 20% of the class. On top of that, faculty members are asked to consider academics, behavior and attitude. For the Patriot Award, faculty considers faculty/peer respect, participation in activities, behavior/attitude, academics and the students role as a Patriot supporter.
“Giving this award is always a pleasure, because I know that the faculty as a whole voted for the student who was selected. The competition in each category is tough, and there are often run-offs because we have the best students possible,” Principal Mr. Rodriguez said.
Below are the results for the Outstanding Student Award for Heritage and Academy grades 9-11:
Freshman:
Heritage: Levi Fleischer
Academy: Cynthia Costa
Sophomore:
Heritage: Sanvi Pandya
Academy: Jack Nolan
Junior:
Heritage: Dhruv Khosla
Academy: Reese Verret
Patriot Award grades 9-11:
Freshmen:
Heritage: Jacob Mendelson
Academy: Bianca Figuerido
Sophomore:
Heritage: Elizabeth Perez
Academy: Henrique Diodatti Oliveira Mello
Junior:
Heritage: Aaron Alter
Academy: Reginald Camille
Congratulations to these students!
Freshman Jacob Mendelson receives the Patriot Award for the freshman class from Mr. Rodriguez and Mrs. Cashman. “As principal, I ask the teachers of the student who was eventually selected to provide me with reasons why the student is so deserving of the award. From those messages, I created the speech that I read that night. I am always so delighted to write and pull those speeches together,” Mr. Rodriguez said. (Photo/Rich Mendelson)
Junior Aaron Alter pulls a double win for the Patriot Award after getting it his freshman year. “It honestly felt surreal. I wasn’t expecting to get it again after receiving it freshman year, so it’s pretty amazing to know that my teachers still see me that way. Even as Mr. Rodriguez was reading what sounded like me, I was still in shock. All in all, I feel really lucky to have the teachers that I do, and I’m incredibly happy to be given such an honor,” Alter said. (Photo/Alina Sukhovskaya)
