Students grabbed their chairs from first period class and headed to the quad for the awards ceremony to begin.
Once everyone settled down, Principal Leuthold began the awards ceremony with her opening speech.
“This is our first in person awards,” Principal Leuthold announced, “It’s really great for us to all be together. I’m so proud of the achievements of our students.”
She then went down the list of awards, handing the mic down the line of people presenting the awards to the honorable students.
Family and friends were able to cheer on their students safely from the comfort of their homes and jobs during the live streamed award ceremony on September 17.

“I didn’t know what to expect for an outdoors awards ceremony on our campus,” Ms. Yao the physical education teacher who livestreamed the entire event on Facebook said, “but I really liked how it was set up and it went really well.”
Many students clapped when necessary and kept side conversations to a minimum, allowing the ceremony to run as smoothly as possible. People from Yearbook and The Academy Chronicle were walking around to take the pictures necessary to capture the moment.
Fellow math enthusiasts excitedly awaited their entrance to Mu Alpha Theta, which was led by Ms. Sprague, one of the math teachers, as advisor. She, along with the student board, helped give awards to the students who demonstrated mastery in math. Once everyone was presented with their certificate, everyone made a right triangle with their hands to officially initiate themselves as members of Mu Alpha Theta.
Afterwards, Ms. Bell and Mr. Nichols, a history teacher, presented awards to the first members of MECA’s new National Honor Society chapter. The students awarded this prestigious honor, according to the NHS website, are those who demonstrate exemplary scholarship, service, leadership and character.

Next, many students were eligible for the Academic Letter award, given to those who were enrolled at Mt. SAC ECA as a full-time student and earn a GPA of 3.5 or above for two consecutive semesters. Freshmen are only eligible for this award having completed two full semesters. Due to this, only sophomores, juniors, and seniors got the award as of the year 2021. In fact, no freshman won any awards considering they haven’t been in school long enough.
Following the Academic Letter is the Continued Achievement bar award. Students must win the Academic Letter award to receive this. They must be enrolled full-time at Mt. Sac ECA and earn at least a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher for the semester.
The last award is the Academic Excellence pin, awarded to those who earn a final semester GPA of 4.0 of the preceding semester. Ultimately, 139 students were celebrated at the Awards Ceremony.
Each award that was given was made of purple and grey chenille ensuring that the school colors were honored. Each and every student worked diligently to get the awards they deserved. And even though not everyone got an award or even got the opportunity to get an award (cough, freshmen, cough), they still cheered on their fellow peers. And this was seen by students and staff as a very big positive in Mt. SAC ECA’s very first in-person awards ceremony.