Faculty guest speakers hail students with 3.0 or above in TJ auditorium, along with Principals Just and Lessard.
Principle Sandra Just shakes hand of honor student as she presents him with a certificate. Photo by Kevin Fleming
Thomas Jefferson honor roll students were called on stage Tuesday, January 20th and 21st, in recognition of their efforts in the 1st semester grading term. Among those who attended were proud parents, siblings and teachers to see their own receive a certificate of excellence.
On Wednesday, Matt Spampinato had the crowd chuckling through the evening with reminiscent stories of his youth and how significant these types of awards are. “Just like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, you hard workers will tonight be presented with a testimonial of your academic achievement. That proves it; you’re all smart. Now go do something that will make us proud of you,” commented Spampinato on stage in front of a crowd of Juniors and Seniors.
For many students these are special awards and tangible representation for their hard work. “Getting the grades feels good, and it’s thrilling to see my semester GPA after working hard; but getting recognized for my grades by (Sandra) Just and (Scott) Lessard,along with all of my friends, just makes it all the more enjoyable,” stated Junior Taliah Farnsworth, who received an award for her first semester’s work.
Gordon Heaton, an AP teacher at Thomas Jefferson spoke to the Freshmen and Sophomores on Tuesday. “I believe it is very important to do well in High School because it is the building block for further success. It’s essentially practice for life. Your high school success determines what colleges you will be able to attend on top of what career you could possibly go into. I am a firm believer in working hard in school. I also believe that it is great that TJ recognizes students who accomplish such a feat. Once you have earned this it is something that can’t be taken away,” said Heaton.
Among the Honor roll assembly, TJ has some new ways of acknowledging these exceptional students. It takes a 3.0 or above to get a certificate; however, for those who make a 3.5 GPA, they will be getting honored in a new way come the end of this year. An academic letter will be introduced and handed out in the same sort of assembly as the certificates. However, as these will be given out for the first time, these new awards will be sure to be extra special.
