Last Friday, the Senior Awards Ceremony was held in recognition of the seniors achievements these past four years. There were many awards ranging from scholarship awards, national merit, scholar athletes, and the AICE diploma. Many of Charter’s deserving students won these awards and here are a couple of winners of the night.

   Frank Arts Scholarship is a scholarship given to students who will be pursuing study in the arts. The recipient of this award was Anna-Lucia Raimont, who will be attending UCF to study theatre and costume design. 

   Commissioner Schwartz Scholarship(a scholarship given to a student who has overcome a personal challenge) recipient was Camilla Powershew, who is planning to attend Broward College.

   Kiersten Warren is very involved in the school, as she serves as the president of the student body association and has an interest in civil activism along with bringing all of the students together. Due to her hard work, she received the Commissioner Siple Scholarship. Kiersten was surprised to win, saying “I really wasn’t expecting to win a scholarship, and I was actually watching the ceremony from Universal since I was celebrating my 18th birthday with my friends. It was surreal and I’m really grateful to have won.”           

   Forza Stefano Scholarship, a non-profit organization created in honor of Stefano Yoguardi, who graduated in 2015 and he was extremely active in the Pines Charter community, recipients were  Zoe Mutombo and Sarah Sevilla.

   The Shontel Medwynter Foundation Scholarship, a scholarship in honor of Chantel Medwynter, who unfortunately lost her battle with cancer, was given to Chrysteannah Williams. Crrysteannah also won the The Passion Prize scholarship, a scholarship given to a student who best embodies the idea of a passionate life:hard work, spirit of risk, spirit of desire, and dedication, due to her passion for mental health and her website campaign that has saved lives.

   Diego Rubio, a man who always put others before himself, won the Kevin Garcia Scholarship. 

   Zoe Mutombo won the Trenton Saunders Foundation scholarship, a scholarship given in memory of Trenton Saunders. Zoe is a strong leader who has a gentle and encouraging approach. Her swim coach was impressed by how eager she was to learn how to play the sport of water polo.

   Mackenzie Ahearn, captain of the swim team as well as the chief yearbook editor, won 4 major awards: the Forza Stefano Scholarship, The Sue Katz Scholarship, the Kevin Garcia Scholarship and the Outstanding Student Award for yearbook. Mackenzie enjoyed the ceremony, saying “The Senior Awards were very exciting and gave me something to look forward to. It was really nice to see all the hard work pay off in the end. I am so proud to have overcome the crazy year we had and be able to represent these foundations. I am thankful for all the advisors, teachers and coaches that have made it possible for me to be where I am now and hope to make everyone proud.”

   For world languages, Julie Cusack received the Outstanding ASL Student Award, Rheana Robinson received the Outstanding French Student Award, and Sophia Reynoso received the Exceptional French Student Award.

   For Language Arts, Fatima Rojas received the Beowulf Award, Alondra Blanco received the Diligence Award, Ethan Correa received the Outstanding AP Literature Award and Mariana Colicchio received the outstanding AICE literature award.

   In the Mathematics department, the Outstanding Student Award went to Gabriel Roca and The Sigma Award went to Romina Torchia.

   Emily Danzinger won the Einstein Award and Logan Saenz received the Sirius Award.

   In the athlete department, there were a large number of winners. Jeremy Jacobs won the Brian Piccolo Scholarship Athlete. Next up was the BCAA Scholar Athletes. Giovanna Difede and Jasmine Glover won for the basketball category, Maria-Noelia Herne won for the swimming category, Juan Marin won for the tennis category, Zoe Mutombo won in the water polo category, Ryan Rasmussen won for the baseball category and Joaquin Pazmino won in a variety of categories: cross country, soccer and volleyball.To be chosen, students must be a senior, maintain a minimum of a 3.2 GPA, have earned a varsity letter and exhibit commitment to the school community at large.

 Four students won the Outstanding Senior Leaders award: Mackenzie Ahearn, a talented layout artist and editor in chief who has created a staff that does whatever it takes to produce quality pages; Vincent Toranzo, anintern at City Hall who has won a statewide race to become the statewide secretary for Florida Association of Student Councils; Alan Matthew, president of Mu Alpha Theta who turned this challenging year into one of the best and most productive years and Kiersten Warren, President of SGA who has demonstrated flexibility and has been able to main 36 students remotely and quite efficiently. Alan Matthew felt surprised to win, saying “To know that my work with Mu Alpha Theatre was something that has been recognized was amazing. Knowing that the work I did this year made an impact was an amazing feeling.”

   Silver Knight Awards, an award given to students who maintain good grades and applied their special knowledge and talent to contribute service to their schools and community, nominees were Mackenzie Ahearn and Nina Ally, a student following her passions in Journalism.

   Jonathan Carrasquer won the National Merit scholarship, while Maria-Noelia Herne and Theophilis Cockrell were the finalists. 

   Maria Noelia Hearn, Girl Power president who plans to attend Cornell University to become a DATA and Computer scientist working as a researcher in artificial intelligence, won the Calvin Jordano Scholarship, which is given to students entering the STEM field..

   The Jaguar Resilience Scholarship, a scholarship presented to a student who has overcome an obstacle in life and used this obstacle to achieve personal and academic success, was awarded to David Adams. David is a student who was diagnosed with a chronic disease freshman year and found their passion in mixed martial arts. David was able to continue to focus on school and be accepted into the University of Florida.

   Finally, the winners of the Jaguar Pride Scholarship, which must be in the top 5% of the class, were Romina Torsia and Shannon Amor. Both of these students had a GPA above 5.0.

CONGRATS TO ALL THESE SENIORS!