“The awards assembly is a positive way to celebrate the successes of our students,” said school counselor Mrs. Laurie Tristan.

On Thursday March 16, 2017 the second awards assembly was held in the quad after second period.  Tristan spent about three days planning this event. The office aides and some teachers helped out to count pencils and to separate awards in piles so they can be given to first period teachers including the Honor Roll, Principal’s List, and VIP.

The awards assembly started with school principal Mr. David Casper saying, “Good Morning MacArthur” and told the students that they have to be on their best behavior on Monday March 20 because we were going to have some special visitors.  The visitors who were coming were the Gold Ribbon committee, assuring MacArthur’s status from the county level.  Only two schools in SAUSD were eligible.  Casper said, “We are MacArthur, we can do it.”  The Gold Ribbon committee is a group from the Orange County Department of Education and they are seeing if a school actually deserved to have the award and they are seeing if MacArthur program matches the school’s application.  

After Casper’s introduction, the following awards were given:

     Honor Roll, Principal’s List, VIP, and VIP+:

• Honor Roll is a certificate on a GPA of 3.0-3.82 and over 400 students received the award.
• Principal’s list is a certificate on a GPA of 3.83-4.0 and only 51 students received it.
• VIP is all 0’s on their report card and 364 students received it.
• VIP+ is a GPA of 4.0 and all O’s in their report card, and only 52 students received it. These students will be getting an ice cream social and a special lunch

All Stars:

• All Stars is a motivational program that urges students to get involved in all aspects of campus: academics, activities, and athletics.
• The program is overseen by Language Arts teacher Mrs. Cristina Barber, Math Teacher Mrs. Holly Kotler, and Math Teacher Mrs. Emily Felmer.
• Barber is in charge of first year all stars, Kotler with second year, and Felmer with third year.

History Faire:

• Social Studies teacher Mrs. Sandy Palmer announced the 2016-2017 kings and queens of the History Faire.
• The History Faire is an event that recreates a Renaissance Faire throughout the MacArthur campus.  Kings and Queens are chosen by their teacher, but candidates had to be responsible, maintain good grades, and a demonstrate leadership.

National History Day:

• Sixth grade social studies teacher Mr. Ron Cheser announced the students who participated in National History Day, those students worked in teams to create unique presentations.  On March 11, 2017 the MacArthur winners competed at the county level.  

Model Congress:  

• Eighth grade Social Studies Teacher Mr. David Chee announced the stand out students for Model Congress.  Model Congress is a week where students take the roles of the federal government.

Speech and Debate:  

• PAL Teacher Ms. Sue Whitmire and History Teacher Mr. John DeGree awarded the speech and debate team.  These 21 competitors learned advancement skills, attended tournaments and they had one competition on March 11, 2017.  There are seven categories, and the team took first place in the district.

AMC8:

• Math Teacher Mrs. Sherry Skipper announced bronze, silver, and gold medals of the students who competed in AMC8, a mathematics competition. There are 100 students who attempted the test, but only 38 won a medal.  

Boys Soccer:

• Coach Melissa recognized the boys soccer players. The team competed in the district tournament in December.

Girls Basketball:

• Computer Tech Mr. Jesus Lozano and ELA Teacher Mrs. Melissa Miller recognized the girls basketball team, who won their third straight title.

RunStrong:

• Coach Mr. David Diaz recognized the RunStrong team for their commitment.  Members run at 6:20 AM on Wednesdays, Fridays, and some Saturdays, too.  

The assembly finished with Principal Casper focusing the campus on Reading Counts.  Regarding Reading Counts, Casper said in the third Awards Assembly that he wants all the million word readers to circle the quad and a special reward will be given out.  He recognized eighth-grader Sabira Mohammed who has read over 7,000,000 words.  

“ I am very proud of the students who received an award,” said Assistant Principal Mr. Craig Johnson

The assembly ran from 9:30-10:30 and there was a special bell schedule for that day. If a student received an award and him/she are absent they will be pulled out of class the following week.

“ I believe it’s great how MacArthur rewards the students who are showing spirit pride and achievement,” said seventh grader Mariana Garcia.