The Ballard Junior Awards ceremony is set to take place on Friday morning of March 20th. Parents were invited, students were instructed to wear nice clothes. All of this was to highlight Bruin excellence, specifically for the junior class of 2027. Awards include anything from being outstanding in academics, to extra circulars like clubs and the arts, and book awards given by colleges. “They’ll get money to that college,” says Ms. Collins, the event’s main coordinator.
About a week after Juniors took the SAT, the Junior Awards push students to consider their futures. By receiving personal awards, students leave the FAC with a resume builder. Easha, a senior at Ballard, says “So I won AP Physics Outstanding Student Award. I did put that on my college resumes, and actually, it did help me get some qualifications for, like, STEM scholarships.”
The junior awards are each unique and individual, with several nominees in each category. This is why the Junior awards only last about an hour, in comparison with senior awards. “So it [Senior Awards] might be three hours, but that’s how our graduation is an hour, and we have 500 kids graduating,” says Ms. Collins. This is because seniors get their chords at senior awards, instead of handing them out at graduation.
The decision making process behind assigning these awards is a group effort. Most of the teachers who teach juniors come together and discuss. “And so that’s the other reason why I invite anyone who teaches juniors to my meeting to choose students so that I can get everyone in there,” says Ms. Collins. However, with a dramatic rise of AI use in the classroom in just the past year, some students are not receiving awards this year because of their misconduct. “It had been brought to our attention that students had used AI on some very large assignments…So there were some students where teachers had requested that they not be included in receiving awards because of what happened,” says Ms. Collins. While this year’s award distribution is more organized, the list of students not receiving awards is no more than 5.
Students who do not go to school (awards) on Friday are not permitted to attend the Junior prom the following day, March 21st. However, some students are missing out on the festivities of Friday. For example, the religious holiday Eid and a HOSA field trip happen to be on the same day as Junior Awards. Ms. Collins explains “I have kids that are in HOSA, and it will say, this winner is Strauzie Collins, but she won’t be here because she’s at HOSA. She won’t be here because she’s celebrating Eid. So we have that information, and so we still recognize them and they can pick up their certificates and stuff on Monday.” Emily, a junior missing junior awards because of HOSA, says “I’m just a bit sad because, like, obviously I do want to go up and, like, go with my friends and get a pretty dress. But at the same time, I think, there’s a lot of learning experience in HOSA.” Another HOSA Junior, Miller adds “I feel like HOSA is a better opportunity for me, especially for, like, college and stuff.”
Not all of Junior year is competitive. For an awards ceremony containing nominees and winners, juniors are able to take the excused absence from school and dress up nicely to celebrate their accomplishments.
