The end of the first semester marks several occasions: for some schools, winter break; for many students, the reality that school really is in session; and for Wahlert Catholic High School, the Academic Awards Assembly.

The Awards Assembly is meant to celebrate the academic achievements of students in the course of the past year or semester. It does so through two awards: the Eagle Award for Achievement or the Eagle Award for Excellence respectively. The criteria for the awards is a 3.85 cumulative GPA over the course of two consecutive semesters to receive the Achievement Award or a 4.33 GPA for one semester for the Excellence Award.

Thus making these awards just two more added to the hundreds that only glorify the end product– the destination rather than the academic journey.

Just as I have in years past, I looked at the list of this year’s award recipients with dread. Although my name was on the list, I was less than excited to sit through a pointless hour and a half long ceremony.

Since my freshman year, the student body has gone through the same ordeal. The award winners line up by grade, march into some ridiculously dramatic music, then, over the course of what feels like years, wait for their name to be called so they can walk across the stage and receive their award.

This year, however, the administration finally decided to change the way they handle the assembly. Instead of having every student individually walk across the stage to get his or her award, they called each student’s name and had them stand in place to be recognized.

The new layout shorted the ceremony by nearly an hour, and I was able to pay attention for almost all of it! While I still think the concept of giving students awards for their GPA is silly, the new style of the Academic Awards Assembly serves as a bearable middle ground between the students and administrators.