The Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES) 11th and 12th graders with a weighted GPA of 4.0 or above were recognized at an annual school event known as the Gold Scholars Ceremony on May 24, 2012. The administrators and leadership class spent weeks to prepare for this ceremony where each of the students had the opportunity to submit a teacher’s name of their choice, who would say a few things about the student in a video.
“The Special Committee members spent these past two weeks getting everything together by organizing the lists and video recordings for today,” Ms. Selig, the LACES ASB Leadership sponsor, said.
Starting with the 11th graders, the videos for each of the individual student were played where different teachers popped up on the screen for various students.
With parents, friends, and fellow classmates, the students all had their special opportunity to stand up on stage with the spotlight placed on them. In the end, it seemed that their hard work had paid off for the students. As for the seniors, this would be the last Gold Scholars event for them.
“I didn’t come last year to this ceremony when I was a junior, but I’m glad I came today since this is my first and last Gold Scholars event,” Whitney Kim, a senior, said.
From laughter to smiles, every student was able to listen to their favorite teacher’s personal comments about them. The teachers like Mr. Jed Laderman, the science teacher, and Mr. Frank Wilson, the math teacher, each had their own unique style of presenting their thoughts and comments where Laderman used scientific terms in a funny manner to describe the student’s hard work and Wilson wrote a poem about the student’s work habits and personality.
“Everybody here deserves great recognition for earning a high GPA throughout high school and we are very proud of you guys,” Ms. Carol Lockett, the assistant principal, said to the Gold Scholars. “We are sure that all of you guys will get very far in life.”