With graduation, the school and community tend to focus on the senior class and their achievements at that time. However, the underclassmen also have an opportunity in the same period to celebrate their accomplishments for the past year. At the ORRHS Underclassmen Awards Night, these hard-working students had their chance to be honored.
The American Legion Award recipients were brought up first to receive certificates demonstrating their acceptance into the Massachusetts Boys and Girls State Programs. These parallel programs are aimed at teaching students responsible citizenship and giving a more hands-on understanding of the American political process. The members of the Class of 2018 selected for this opportunity were Jacob Asiaf, Nicholas Claudio, Evan Costa, Sam Pasquill, Ainslee Bangs, and Rachel Demmer. These students attended the week-long sessions at Stonehill College in late June.
Participants in Project Contemporary Competitiveness, hosted at Stonehill College each summer, were also awarded with a certificate stating their participation in the classes. Sophomore Ryu Huynh-Aoyama received this award.
The Presidential Service Award is given to community members who perform and record specific amounts of volunteer service hours based on their age. For instance, a gold medal is awarded to ages 11-15 for over 100 hours of service, and to ages 16-25 for over 250 hours of service. ORR students Mackenzie Drew, Ryu Hyunh-Aoyama, Brianna Lynch, Mia Quinlan, and Victoria Quinlan received the Gold Service Award. Sara Campopiano and Joanna Caynon received the Silver Service Award. Brielle Correia, Evan Costa, Alisha Mackin, Claire Noble-Shriver, and Madeline Scheub received the Bronze Service Award.
The Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award is given annually to a junior student who is high achieving in the sciences and has strong math scores in the PSAT, SAT or ACT. This award gives a $7,500 per year scholarship to recipients towards the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. This year’s recipient was rising senior Jahn Pothier.
The National Latin Exam is an annual 45-minute test consisting of 40 multiple choice questions. Students in any Latin class at ORR have the option to take the specific level test corresponding to their class year level (i.e. Latin 2). Depending on the amount of correct answers, a student can receive a cum laude (with praise) or magna cum laude (with great praise) award. In Latin 2, Mackenzie Riley received a Magna Cum Laude and Noah Maxwell earned a Cum Laude. In Latin 4, Evan Tilley received a Magna Cum Laude and Hannah Powers earned a Cum Laude.
The National Spanish Exam runs and awards similarly to the NLE, except students are awarded with gold, silver, bronze, or honorable mentions for their high scores. For Spanish 1, Madeline Hartley received a silver medal and Alexander Wurl earned an Honorable Mention. In Spanish 2, Rosemary Loer received a silver medal, Emma Gabriel earned a bronze medal, and Felicia Aguiar, Milo Bednarczyk, Bethany Cabral, Sara Campopiano, Lucas Costa, Gabriel Jacobsen, and Tyler Rose received Honorable Mentions. For Spanish 3, Michaela Mattson received a bronze medal and Brielle Correia and Lily Pearl Poirier earned Honorable Mentions. Finally, in Spanish 4, Emily Bock and Nicholas Claudio received Honorable Mentions.
The American Mathematics Competition 10/12 are two 25-question, 75-minute multiple choice exams aimed at testing the problem-solving skills of students. The AMC 12 is for seniors and below, and the AMC 10 is for sophomores and below. For the 2017 AMC, Tyler Rose received an Outstanding Achievement award.
Students who excel on a previous AMC exam are invited to take the USA Mathematical Olympiad. For the 2017 Olympiad Contest, Robert Sylvester earned the Outstanding Achievement award.
The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Medal is awarded to “promising students who have distinguished themselves in mathematics and science.” This annual award is a merit scholarship for $25,000 a year for four years if the rising senior recipient applies, is accepted, and enrolls to Rensselaer. This year’s awardee was Hanil Kang.
The Harvard Prize Book Award is presented “in more than 2,000 high schools around the world to outstanding students in the next-to-graduating class who demonstrate excellence in scholarship and achievement in other nonacademic areas,” states the Harvard Alumni website. The Class of 2018 recipient of this award was Jahn Pothier.
The Cape Cod Tufts Club Book Award is presented to rising seniors in local high schools who demonstrate academic excellence. This year’s ORR recipient was Hanil Kang.
This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the awards that the underclassmen students at ORRHS received this past year. The rest of the accolades handed out during Awards Night will be listed in a following article.
By Jo Caynon