Students are recognized for their academic achievements at the Academic Awards Breakfast twice every year, an annual tradition since 1987-1988. The students who qualified for an award were sent an invitation through their email, along with a list of the other students attending, ordered by grade level and award. Parents were also invited to attend with their student.
“The concept has really been the same. To my knowledge going back to the initial start of the Academic Awards Breakfast, which started in the late eighties,” Principal Bryant Bednarek said.
The breakfast took place at 7 a.m., where students were treated to muffins, donuts, and fruit salad made by the Food Service class. At 7:25 a.m., they were called into the auditorium for the awards ceremony.
Sophomores were called up first, followed by juniors and seniors who got their letters, or their bars.
“To earn a letter you need to accumulate nine points. Those points are earned based on different levels of honor roll. The earliest a student would be able to earn an academic letter is after the first semester of their sophomore year, because you need nine points,” Bednarek said. “You get three points a semester, and that’s how you get to nine. But, sometimes it takes students additional semesters, so we have students that got just honors, not high. Just on the honor roll with a GPA of about 3. Eventually they could still earn their academic letter, they just don’t acquire the same amount of points, so it takes longer.”
Students earning their academic letter received a certificate that they could exchange at Ripon Athletic for their letter. Students who were receiving bars were handed to them by the co-presidents of Student Council Aleea Lichtenberg and Aidan Pierstorff and the secretary Andrew Rozek.
Students earn three points for a 3.8+ GPA, two points for 3.2-3.79 GPA, and one point for 3.0-3.19 GPA. To get their first bar, students need fifteen points, and every bar after that is an additional three points.
The award ceremony tradition was made by Student Council, aiming to celebrate the accomplishments of students. The breakfast helps reward students for their hard work in class.
“I think it’s really nice. I’ve been trying hard to work towards it, because I’ve earned a jacket for track, so I’m trying my best to add bars,” junior Gabriella Franke said.
The Student Council is currently discussing changes to the awards ceremony. Since it takes until after the first semester for some students to earn an award, the fall breakfast event has a significantly lesser turnout. Student council members are reflecting on changing the time of the fall awards ceremony to during the school day in front of peers or afterwards, to increase attendance.
“I think any way that we can try to celebrate the accomplishments of our students, whether that’s through recognition of honor roll, or academic awards, or through laude levels I’m all for it. I know we have several students who work really hard to do their best academically, and I certainly want to recognize them whenever possible,” Bednarek said.
