Don’t you just hate it when you spend hours on a project, and maybe even an all-nighter, to get the final product you are satisfied with, and no one cares? Most of the “academic” hard work put in by students only really gets praised by their parents and friends, maybe teachers. I mean, you don’t see students widely celebrated on YouTube or in the newspaper. But students deserve to be commended for their efforts. And this year, they can once more! Our principal, Ms. Giurlando, has brought back the Student of the Month Awards.
The Student of the Month Awards were a tradition in Glen Rock until they were suspended in July 2020. Every month, deserving individuals will be selected by department supervisors. The teachers in each department are set on the harrowing journey to determine who their favorite st- er, who the best candidate for the award is. The student can be chosen by any number of qualities, as Ms. Giurlando specified. “…someone who’s super collaborative, it could be somebody who’s put in a great amount of effort into a project, something of that nature.” That means as long as you put in enough effort, you could be nominated as well! Maybe that’ll motivate you to start paying attention and stop dozing off. Yes, I’m talking to you. You know what class it was.
And to answer the question everyone is asking, yes, you do get a ‘prize’ for winning the award. The Students of the Month are called down to the office and are presented with a certificate and a little pin. Though I think we can all agree that the prizes aren’t the main part of winning, right? …Right? The answer is yes, by the way. The real treat and the main reason why these awards are given out is to appreciate the hard work and dedication of the students who won.
“It shows recognition for the hard work that certain students will put into, whether it could be a passion of theirs or even just like a big interest, you know?” Senior Mason Cavagnuolo, the winner of the October Student of the Month Art Award, stated. “[Art]’s really what I want to do with my life so, getting awarded that label ‘Student of the Month’… it’s just kinda like a payoff.”
Take junior Elana Putzer, the well-deserved winner of the October Citizen of the Month Award. She co-runs the Interact club and in October, she organized the pumpkin grams and the Relay for Life chocolate sales, two very successful fundraisers.
If anyone deserves compliments for hard work, it’s her. Thanks to the Student of the Month Award system, people like her get acknowledged for all they’ve done. “I want to make sure that the student body, the student population knows that we recognize the great work that they’re doing and the characteristics that they’re demonstrating that show that they’re good citizens as well,” stated Ms. Giurlando.
Everyone has a reason for what they do, whether it be passion or simply for the sake of doing it. Either way, some students put their blood, sweat, and tears into it (figuratively, not literally. At least, I hope not literally). The Student of the Month Awards highlight their hard work — everyone deserves to be recognized. So let’s get ready to congratulate the Students of the Month for December! Who knows, maybe you’ll be up there. And if that’s not enough to motivate you to study for your math test, I don’t know what is.
