On October 24, Chateauguay Valley Regional High School (CVR) hosted its fourth Academic Awards Gala. This annual event began as a way to highlight the academic successes and perseverance of students of all grade levels. This year’s event was hosted by class of 2020 alumni Christina Knox and Emma Anderson.
Event organizer and CVR teacher, Roberta Filiatrault, shares that honour-roll students used to be recognized by grade in an assembly during school hours. Teachers noticed that this led to some kids being made fun of for their academic success, and they wanted to figure out a way to counter this. “We have a sports awards banquet, we have all kinds of things to celebrate performing arts; we needed something to celebrate academic success, but we needed it to be something big,” says Filiatrault.
The gala takes place in the evening, parents and teachers are invited, and there is even a photo booth. It begins with the recognition of all students on the Honours with Distinction Roll (those with an average of 85 per cent and up), followed by the students on the Honour Roll (with an average of 80-84 per cent). Then, there are awards for each student with the highest grade in each subject per grade level. This opens the doors for students who may not make the honour roll, but who excel in areas like physical education or music. These awards come with a monetary reward from the CVR Educational Foundation.
One student per grade is then awarded the Academic Perseverance Award. These students are nominated by teachers for their hard work even if they don’t get top grades. Teachers also choose one student per grade for the Education Leadership award, for someone who is a leader in the classroom. Finally, the CVR Spartanship award is awarded to one student in each grade who excels at balancing academics and involvement in school life.
Filiatrault says that it’s great to see how excited the students are about this event. “The kids are coming to me and asking me if they can get extra tickets because their grandparents want to come. Kids who didn’t make the honour roll are saying they want to make it next year. When we used to do it before, kids were embarrassed to go up, but now they’re excited,” she says. “It’s something that the staff really embraces and likes. To get them to come out and participate on a Thursday shows it’s something they support and love. This is what our jobs are about, getting kids excited to learn.”