Last Thursday evening, students gathered in the Fallon Family Center to receive academic awards for their tireless effort this school year. Not only was this one of the few events left of the school year, but it was one of the last events seniors would be a part of before they walked at graduation on Wednesday.

Starting with freshmen, there were a total of 85 out of 188 students that received academic awards for achieving a GPA of 3.7 or above. Not only that, but students like Joe Hogan (Religion and English), Mary Ellen Raymo (Biology), Taylor Larner (Social Studies), David Daum (Math and French I), Ashley Martinez (Physical Education), Andrew Belarde (Spanish I) and Elizabeth Petruso (Theatre) received Departmental Awards for going above and beyond in a certain subject.

Moving on to sophomores, 67 out of the class of 142 received awards for obtaining 3.7 on the GPA scale cumulatively. Sophomores like Wade Howdeshell (Religion and Social Studies), Caitlin Welby (Chemistry), Alyssa Bucheit (Math), Meaghan Fleming (English), Lily McKnight (Physical Education), Jamie Wilmes (Spanish II), Hannah Vanourney (French II) and Brynn Forhan (Music) were recognized during the Departmental Awards. As well as the Departmentals, the Glory Awards that sophomores participate in every year were re-announced during the ceremony. Emma Henke (Justice), Rachel Achelpohl (Equality), Halie Hebron (Virtue), Marc Rosner (Temperance), John McLoughlin (Liberty), Mary Allen (Law), Bailey Gunderson (Truth), Kaylie Meyer (Education), Wade Howdeshell (Knowledge), Delaney Wehde (Charity), Alyssa Bucheit (Fraternity), Laura Gray (Honor), Meaghan Fleming (Progress) and Corey Havrilla (Enterprise) were the students acknowledged for expressing those virtues during their daily lives.

For the juniors, there were 92 out of 207 students that received academic honors as well. The Departmental Awards went to Maddie Stewart (Religion), Joey Gloriod (Chemistry II), Kristen Kostecki (Physical Science), Maddie Dougherty (Investigative Science), Jeremy Sutterer (Physics), Abbey Jennings (Social Studies), Amina Islam (Math), Jenika Hazelbaker (English), Joey Fuchs (Physical Education), Maddie Jarka (Spanish III), Brooke Wood (Spanish IV), Hannah Dwyer (French III), Peyton Bishop (Music), Jackie Lang (Music) and Morgan Luetkenhaus (Design).

The most important part of the night, however, was for our seniors. Out of 171 seniors, 39 received Cum Laude (3.70-3.99), 30 received Magna Cum Laude (4.00-4.19) and only six received the Latin Honor title of Summa Cum Laude (4.20+). Of the six who received the highest Latin Honors was Alex Sabala with a cumulative GPA of 4.31. The seniors also participated in the Departmental Awards, beginning with Theo Pardee (Religion), Bri Dale (Anatomy and Physiology), Lauren Dougherty (Investigative Science), Sidney Thorpe (Investigative Science), Maddie Weston (Environmental Science), Alex Sabala (PLTW), Nathan Kamp (PLTW), Alex Johnson (Social Studies), Daniel Faust (Math), Alex Slaid (English), Max Relling (English), Kaitlyn Bross (Journalism), Blake Schneider (Physical Education), Abby West (Spanish V), Sydney Hofstetter (French IV), Lauren Thomas (French V), Sveta Wunnenberg (Art), Wyatt Forhan (Music), Shelby Orf (Business) and Max Sengel (Business). There were also mentions for seniors involved in NHS, NAHS, and the top 10% of the entire senior class. Some of the bigger awards that also took place were the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Scholar Athlete, presented to Sam Zoellner; MSHSAA Award of Excellence, presented to Ella Kasubke and Blake Schneider; St. Charles County Amateur Sport Hall of Fame presented to Lexi Burkemper and Ben Mueller; Redford Michael Perrine Memorial Scholarship, presented to Sveta Wunnenberg; and the Archbishop May Service Award, presented to Rosie Mazzuca.

To all of these amazing students, congratulations. Your hard work pays off. And to the seniors, take the lessons you learned from your hard work off into college. Don’t forget your alma mater.