Honoring the accomplishments of SDA seniors and some select juniors for academic achievements and scholarship recognition, the “Academy Awards” came to campus with blue and silver balloons and a red carpet last Thursday.

According to Assistant Principal Brieahna Weatherford as she opened the event, over 100 seniors were being honored for their “outstanding contribution to the community” of Encinitas and SDA.

Senior Oceana Haaland performed the national anthem and then the awards started.

The juniors were recognized first for awards including Boys and Girls State representatives, Yale and Harvard Book Awards and Daughter of the American Revolution. Students had respectively gone through rigorous interview or application processes in order to receive the awards.

Next were senior scholarship commemorations. The audience filling the bottom level of the gymnasium was full of supportive and proud parents that cheered as their students went up to receive a certificate for their scholarships.

Students receiving scholarships were recognized for their dedication to school, immense extracurricular activity, and laudable work-ethic. Beyond the SDA Foundation, several scholarships were given from other organizations.

The Mexican American Educational Guidance Association (MAEGA) was one of the outside organizations that honored the most students that night. According to their online homepage, MAEGA works to “promote education beyond high school for San Dieguito Union High School District students of Latino heritage by providing one year scholarships.”

Several of the organizations sent alumni of SDA as representatives. They expressed their excitement of returning to campus and their happiness to honor a fellow Mustang that was graduating this year.

After scholarship recognition, the event turned to Department Awards which gave teachers the opportunity to recognize students who excelled in a certain subjects.

Some touching moments were when Japanese teacher Rie Tsuboi handed her students their awards with a quick Japanese-style bow of the head and the students reciprocated. Psychology teacher James Hrzina, when commemorating his students, made sincere eye contact as he genuinely thanked them for continuing to teach him new things each day in class.

Through Department Awards, teachers made cute jokes and told funny stories of when they first met the seniors that stood up there with them. The fun and supportive speeches went hand-in-hand with the students’ cheers and claps as they congratulated the peers they have spent the last four years learning alongside.
The ceremony finished with the Mustang Awards, including awards that congratulate Mustang spirit like The Essence of the Academy Award, given to senior Austin Dilley. Parents came out of the stands to congratulate their students for their hard work, snapping one last picture before heading home.