ROGERS — Students posed for pictures with friends and proud parents outside the Rogers High School auditorium Thursday following an academic awards ceremony.
A total of 397 students walked the stage during the annual event. Students who keep a 3.5 or higher grade point average qualify for the award.
For Sierra Chavez, a junior, it was her second year to receive the award. Studying is not hard, she said, but the award is appreciated.
“I feel really smart and honored,” Chavez said.
Parents and teachers told her hard work in class pays off and the awards remind her of that, said Alyssa Corral, a junior.
Advanced Placement classes such as biology and physics are a lot of work, students said.
His physics class has a lot of homework, said Franklin Cierra, a junior. He said he kept his grades high by not putting homework off until the last minute.
Junior Lucas Coberly fretted he was missing class but gave a thumbs up to classmates as his name was called.
“I kinda wish I was in Spanish class right now,” he said while waiting for the ceremony to start.
Blake Riley said his daughter, Maddie, is hoping for a choral scholarship in Florida. The awards for her are an incentive to achieve more, he said. For him, the ceremony was a moment where the tutoring and support showed. The investment is worth the reward, Riley said.
At A Glance
Academic Awards
Academic awards go to students who have maintained a 3.5 grade point average for a year or more. Special recognition is given to students who hold their high grades for two or three years. Awards are based on the previous year of class work.
•Seniors honored: 107 third-year recipients, 12 second-year recipients and 11 first-year recipients.
•Juniors: 138 second-year recipients and 13 first-year recipients.
• Sophomores: 152 recipients.
• Sixty students received the Rogers Graduate of Promise award for meeting eight credentialing areas outside graduation requirements.
• Several students received an award from NorthWest Arkansas Community College honoring them for earning 12 or more college credits with a 3.0 or higher grade point average.
Source: Staff Report
“For us, it’s the culmination that all the things you’ve done and tried to instill in your kid pays off,” he said.
Conducting the ceremony is an amazing privilege, said Gordon Besel, education chairman for the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce.
“The chamber recognizes that, when we have good students, we have good workers and good citizens in this community,” Besel said.
Bette Tatum, education committee vice chairwoman, said when she hires at Tatum-Smith Engineers, she looks for students with a Rogers Graduate of Promise certificate. Sixty students were awarded the certificates during the ceremony. A graduate of promise has met eight credentialing goals, and that shows their dependability, Tatum said.
“They have character and integrity because they choose to and not because it’s required,” Tatum said.
Senior Yeyry Dominguez heard her name called twice, once for the academic award and again as a graduate of promise. Her parents, David and Margarita Dominguez, were all smiles after the ceremony.
“They’re proud because I got recognized because of my grades and achievement, and I have proved that I do want to go to college,” Yeyry Dominguez said translating for her mother.
She was a proud momma bear when her daughter crossed the stage, her mother said.
“We are happy,” David Dominguez said.
The awards ceremony is a joint program of the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce and the Rogers School District. It was presented by Tyson Foods.