There are teachers’ pets and then there are those who are academically extraordinary. These outstanding students were acknowledged on May 18th at the Academic Awards Ceremony held in the District Auditorium.

A total of 150 awards, including Valedictorian, Arianna Riemma-Cascone, and Salutatorian, Harshil Mehta, were given out to the students of WHBHS. The awards were broken up by categories, Health & PE, Art/Business/Technology, Math, English, Science, Social Studies, Music and LOTE (Language Other Than English). Additionally, a number of awards were given to students by organizations and universities.

Keira Kelly, who was very surprised, received the first ever Harvard Book Award presented to anyone at WHBHS. The award is given for prestigious academics as recognized by Harvard University. Along with Keira, other students received multiple awards as well, those being Emily Meyer, Taylor Bentz, Andrew Hempel, Frank Leotta, Harshil Mehta, Ariel Kaplan, and Freesia Ferrantino, just to name a few.

Sophomore Andrew Hempel received the Algebra II/Trigonometry and the Honors Chemistry awards. “I was kind of expecting to get the math award, but I’ll admit I was caught a little off-guard when I was called up for the Honors Chem award. I know I’m pretty good in the class, but none of us knew who was going to get it,” commented Hempel. Seniors Taylor Bentz and Emily Meyer each received four awards, which appeared as if the two never should have left the stage which was a great way for the two seniors to end their academic careers here.

Those who received an award should be proud of their achievements, regardless of what class the award was for. For those who were not recognized, the awards are chosen by the entire department. That means even if your teacher would have given you the award, two other teachers might want to give it to someone else. Remember, being recognized on this prestigious annual event is something to be proud of. Plus, it looks great on a résumé!