Kaitlin Arocho, Editor-in-Chief
It’s getting towards the end of the year with only six weeks left of school and that means it’s the perfect time for the senior class to have as many events as the schedule will allow. One of these events, the annual senior awards ceremony, took place on Thursday, April 21, at 6:00 pm.
This event recognizes all seniors graduating with any of the three academic honors: Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, and Summa Cum Laude as well as any seniors who were chosen to receive the LEE Legacy Award, L Merit award, ExcellenceAward, Principal’s Award, and Superintendent’s Award.
The LEE Legacy award is given to those who have displayed qualities of leadership in class and/or around campus. The L Merit award goes to one student from each academic and fine arts discipline who is considered the most accomplished.
The Excellence Award is given to students nominated by faculty members for their excellence in a variety of areas. Students must maintain high standards in the areas of leadership, academics, citizenship, and have a willingness to serve not only our campus community, but also the larger San Antonio community as well. This award was granted to twelve seniors.
The Principal’s Award goes to one young lady and one young man who represent excellence in the classroom and tirelessly serve our community in a variety of ways by putting others first and spending countless hours devoting much time and energy into promoting the spirit, pride, and tradition for the Legacy of Educational Excellence community.
The Superintendent’s Award is to the top outstanding senior who has shown exceptional accomplishment in any area.
The 2022 Superintendent’s Award recipient was Maria Yesenia Velasquez; who is also Senior Class President, Student Council Historian, a PALS member, yearbook Editor-in-Chief, a LEE TV Reporter, newspaper reporter, a member of Unity Club, and San Antonio DAR Good Citizen Award recipient.
She was the MC for the event and actually had access to the script with the names of the winners beforehand. “I was behind Mr. Crowe and I could see everything, even the names of the people who won, but they had to not put my name in there to keep it a surprise,” Valasquez said.
All of the faculty members that were on stage knew who had won the Superintendent’s award and to keep it hidden from Velasquez her name was the only one not put in the script.
When asked what it was like when her name was called she said, “my heart popped, there were shivers through my body, and I straight up said ‘wtf,’ I was so happily overwhelmed to the point of tears. I wasn’t in control of my body when I walked up to get the award. It wasn’t until the moment I was handed the awards that it felt real.”
Tears were shed by Velasquez herself as well as family members and teachers. This was to be expected as this is an immensely huge honor. However, when asked if she expected to get the award because of how much she was involved with she said, “honestly, because I think of myself low due to my grades and it was only this year that I started being so involved, while there are others who have been involved since freshman year.” But being a straight A student isn’t the only form of “exceptional accomplishment.” The recipient could show that in any area, and Velasquez has certainly done that when it comes to leading her school community.
