On Monday, February 6, Notre Dame held its Academic Honors Ceremony in the Auditorium.

At the awards ceremony, every student on the honor roll or high honor roll is awarded a pin for his hard work throughout the last two semesters.

The ceremony started with an opening prayer from senior student body president Stephen Lovell.

Awards were given out by Associate Principal Mr. Greg Masarik and Principal John Ravizza. Students were called forward and awarded for the highest GPA they achieved during the previous year.

The first time a student achieves high honors, he or she receives a medal. All high honor achievements after that are noted with a colored bar pin that is pinned onto the medal.

After all of the honors and high honors students were called to the stage, the Top Ten in the class of 2017 were announced. The Top Ten are the following:
Emily Gibson, valedictorian
Sylvia Griffitt, salutatorian
Alexander Wasilkoff
Heather Ruby
Megan Schumer
Katrina Dietsche and Maria Ehlinger (tie)
Thomas Shade
Mary Zakowski
Sarah Zarvan
Diego Mendoza Diaz

After the Top Ten were brought to the stage, the National Merit Scholarship semifinalists were announced. Students qualify as a National Merit Scholar by taking the PSAT. After the test, 16,000 students across the United States are chosen as semi-finalists based on their PSAT score.

This year’s semi-finalists were Sylvia Griffitt, Heather Ruby, Megan Schumer, Thomas Shade and Alexander Wasilkoff.

Recognized as commended scholars by National Merit Scholarship were Emily Gibson, Benjamin Rose and Melissa Wilke.

“The DP curriculum is made of six subject groups and the DP core, comprising theory of knowledge (TOK), creativity, activity, service (CAS) and the extended essay. Through the DP core, students reflect on the nature of knowledge, complete independent research and undertake a project that often involved community service,” states the IB Program’s website.

This year’s IB Diploma candidates, students taking the school’s most rigorous curriculum, are Rockford Beauchamp, Greta Bosco, Chelsea Chrudimsky, Jinqiu Fan, Emily Gibson, Morgan Goodwin, Sylvia Griffitt, Willis Guo, Hailey Gutowski, Kelly Hogan, Elizabeth Hunt, Marisa Jacques, Madeline Kaye, Maria Keenan, Elisabeth Lasecki, Elena Martin Sierra, Diego Mendoza Diaz, Jacob Rose, Megan Schumer, Thomas Shade, Ireland Sweeney, Alexander Wasilkoff and Annabelle Whatley.

The ceremony concluded with a closing blessing from Notre Dame’s president Mr. Kevin Shaw and a reception in the Commons.