On Tuesday, the senior awards ceremony for the Class of ‘25 was hosted in the auditorium and streamed live at FHNToday.com/live/. Seniors who earned certain awards and scholarships were invited to the ceremony as well as their parents. From there, seniors were called on stage to celebrate the awards they achieved before departmental awards and scholarship recipients were announced.
“It was pretty exciting actually,” senior Rishitha Vedanaparthi, who received a US Marine Corps scholarship said. “I never really thought that I would be getting something like that.”
Everything handed out at senior awards came with apparel that could be worn at graduation or money from a scholarship. The seniors were not made aware of who would be winning the department awards or the scholarships before the big night, which added to the excitement.
“I see a lot of surprise for the department winners,” Lisa Woodrum, the senior class counselor and an organizer of the senior awards ceremony said. “I mean when you think about a whole class and each department can only have one. That is a really special distinction for students and families.
The seniors receiving departmental awards as well as scholarships would take a photo with the person who gave them the award and get a moment to talk with them about all of the hard work that went into it. A lot of joy and energy shook the chamber as the seniors got to see their dedication pay off.
“I did not think I’d be getting that one, it was really a surprise,” Vedanaparthi said. “I thought that someone else that was like more athletic would get it. It was nice.”
After all of the awards were handed out, the seniors were released, though many stuck around to take photographs and treasure one of their last moments in high school. Many of the awards celebrated that night had to do with the senior’s academic merit, though quite a few were based on dedication to learning and good character.
“What I love is after the ceremony,” Woodrum said. “There’s little groups. Groups of seniors or groups of the parents and the senior or when they rope in the faculty member too. I think that’s a really special time.”
