Hellgate High school held its annual senior awards night for the class of 2026 on June 2. For those who are unfamiliar, senior awards are a time for teachers and departments to honor students who went above and beyond in certain areas, and say some nice words about them as well as before they leave the school. Several scholarships are also awarded to students who applied.
The process is similar to graduation. The students’ names are called, and they walk up to receive a rose and their award, however it feels a lot more personal since the teacher is able to honor a student that they have watched grow over the past four years. It is also a smaller crowd, which adds to the meaningful feeling.
Senior Caroline Chitty won several awards last night. Chitty has been academically engaged all four years of high school, and certainly got some well deserved recognition across several departments last night. Each teacher who spoke about her mentioned how good of a listener she was. “I got an English award and a science award. It felt good to be recognized by teachers who have impacted me so much and who I have so much respect for. It was also fun to see everyone else get their awards and hear all the wonderful things teachers said about them. My favorite part was when Mr. Harper gave all of his Latin seniors swords. Overall It was a very heart warming experience.”
Outside of the world languages department, Brent Harper, who teaches Latin, made a special tribute to his IB Latin students, presenting them each with a wooden sword. Because of the overwhelming amount of students who want to take the class, Harper has three classes worth of students in one period, and has to run back and forth between two classrooms while teaching. His IB Latin students spent most of the year teaching themselves, and he wanted to recognize their academic achievements at the award ceremony.
Senior Lenora Sackey, who was recognized for their work in the IB Latin course, had this to say: “Over the years I’ve watched the people around me work incredibly hard in their schooling. My friends’ sheer capability to strive for greatness astounds me. It was really wonderful to see them get recognized for their efforts. Years of dedication brought them to where they are and they will go into great things, I’m sure of it. I think that every person who walked that stage was incredibly deserving of their rewards. All that effort can sometimes go unrewarded but the awards night gave many hard working seniors their well deserved flowers.”
Overall, Senior Awards are a heartwarming way to send off students who teachers feel put in astounding amounts of effort to their classes. Hopefully it will be a tradition that stays at Hellgate for many years to come.
