April showers bring May flowers, but at Rosary, the month of April also brings a very special event to celebrate students’ academic achievements. Honors Night, at which students receive first, second and third honors awards, is not only a celebration of academic achievement, but also extracurricular achievement as well, with specialized awards (usually for certain programs) given as well. This ceremony is specifically for freshmen, sophomores and juniors; seniors have a separate celebration. Many students were celebrated at Honors Night this year, so let’s jump right in and celebrate all that our Royals accomplished.
The first awards distributed were the honor roll awards. Students had the opportunity to receive one of three possible awards based on their grades from first semester: first honors, second honors and third honors. Each student walked onstage, shook Dr. Basford‘s hand and received their award.
After these awards had been distributed (to all of the non-Trinitas Royals), the time came for the administration to present students with the academic merit awards for specific classes and departments. Teachers had the opportunity to choose a student whose work, effort and positive energy in a class deserved to be recognized. Many students happily received these awards, and, at the end of the night, some very hardworking, eager and special students found themselves walking up to the stage very often, and with a stack of awards.
Interspersed throughout the presentation of both the honor roll awards and the academic merit awards for classes were the presentation of many unique awards. The first specialized award to be presented was the Pepperdine Youth Citizenship Award. Each year, Pepperdine University selects students from across California to attend the Southern California Youth Citizenship Seminar in June, which is held at their campus, and which aims to inspire the future leaders of America. This year, the award was presented to Juniors Lexie Curtis and Phoebe Zhang, and they have been selected as Rosary’s 2026 delegates.
Also presented at Honors Night was the delegate decision for the Girls State program. Girls State is a week-long program at which juniors can learn about the structure and responsibilities of city, county, and state governments. The American Legion Auxiliary sponsors Girls State, and they interview nominees for the program. Isabella Ambata ’27 has been selected as Rosary’s 2026 Girls State delegate and was presented with the award and delegation at Honors Night. Our very own Co-Editor-in-Chief, Christina Vaughan ’26 was chosen to be the Girls State delegate last year, and she had a wonderful and eye-opening experience at the camp. Best of luck at Girls State, Bella!
The final specialized award to be presented this past Monday was the College Board National Recognition Award. This program recognizes high-performing, underrepresented students, and recipients of the award are among the highest achieving high school students in the country. Juniors Isabella Ambata, Alexandra Dedes, Jane Ferreira and Danalynn Lam were presented with this award.
Closing out the night was the National Honor Society Induction Ceremony. Mrs. Davidson and the NHS executive board members gathered on the stage to read out the NHS principles and to induct the new junior members. Each new member was given their membership card and was asked to stand along the stage. Once all of the members had received their membership cards, they read the membership pledge together, concluding the ceremony and officially welcoming them into the society.
Honors Night was enjoyed by all of the attendees, and it was a very special event to celebrate all that the amazing Royals have done this year. Kaiya Watties ’27 shared about her love for celebrating her sisters: “I received two academic merit awards for first honors and geometry. I was also welcomed into the National Honor Society.” Kaiya continued, “I enjoyed seeing all my Rosary sisters receive awards at the event. Everyone has worked hard throughout the whole school year and it’s nice to see that hard work pay off.”
Jacqueline Valle ’29 shared her admiration of all that Honors Night aims to do: “At Honors Night I received first academic honors. I really enjoyed the fact that Rosary is honoring the hard work of their students.” Maryvin Castillo ’28 enjoyed that Honors Night celebrated students’ academic motivation: “Earning a first honor award meant a lot to me and my parents, but something I really enjoyed about Honors Night was being surrounded with so many hardworking students.” Maryvin said, “Being able to not only celebrate my own achievement, but everyone else’s too, made it really motivating and special.” Lastly, Rachel Swenson ’27 enjoyed celebrating the event with her friends: “I received second honors and I enjoyed seeing my friends receive their awards.”
Thank you to both admin and the counseling team for such a wonderful Honors Night 2026, and for always supporting and helping all Royals along their academic journeys.
