Academic Achievement Awards were held on March 31 in the Cam High gym.

To earn this academic recognition, students needed to have a cumulative GPA of 3.8 or higher on a 5.0 scale, or participate in one of many academic teams and events such as the National German Test.

Academic teams honored included academic decathlon, geography bowl, math competition, optimist club, knowledge bowl, mock trial, speech and debate, GAPP (German American Partnership Program), and the National German Test.

Freshmen, sophomores, and seniors received lapel pins; juniors received scholar letters for academic achievement.

In addition to academic awards, department awards could be earned through teacher selection for demonstrating tremendous improvement or excellent class performance.

Chris Lawler, English teacher, nominated two students based on their attendance, participation, attitude and effort.

Department awards may be earned in any of the following areas: agriculture, art, business education, consumer and family science, English, English language development, foreign language, industrial technology, mathematics, music, physical education, science, and social science.

The student is recognized at a special Department Awards night on March 24. Certificates and lapel pins are awarded there as well.

The main purpose of these awards is, “to recognize students that work towards earning them,” said Becky Rockey. Drawing from a large group of about 200 individuals, a teacher may find it difficult to choose the students to get awards, and may nominate them for a variety of reasons.

“Sometimes it’s obvious, but sometimes I have to choose by eliminating,” said Jonathan McCabe, Earth Science teacher. McCabe’s nominees were chosen based on three categories: academics, attitude, and improvement.

A total of 524 students were nominated for department awards from different departments, while a total of 610 students received the academic awards. Mrs. Francesca Gurney, Spanish teacher, said, “It makes me very happy that so many students deserved and were recognized for their exemplary effort and good character.”