<p>This thread is a related one to the NHS, does it matter thread. DD is in the top 6% of her HS class and will be one of 7 students in a class of 198 to have academic excellence for the year (all A's). The invitations for awards night came and again she did not receive any awards that will be given that night (department awards, Jr book awards, BOE awards). She will get academic excellence certificates from all of her teachers (except history where she had a B one marking period) for having A's throughout the year. This kid is a quiet high achiever who says "mom...the same kids get the awards every year". I know this isn't that important in the big scheme of things. BUT this is why she was happy to be acknowledged by NHS...it's the only time her academic standing has been noted by her school. By the way...the other 6 academic excellence kids have ALL been invited to the Awards Night. It's not the first time this has happened...</p>
<p>I can understand you and your daughter's feelings of disappointment about not being aknowledged on awards night. My sense is that the value of these awards is different for different schools. For example, the elite colleges know that the top two or three kids in each grade will get these presentations from their high school, but they are really looking for accomplishments beyond that , eg. community, regional, state, or national recognition. A student who has great grades and a rigorous course load, but may not be the very top in a particular subject might not get the h.s. award, but may be doing something unique in his/her ec's that has had an impact on their community or has been recognized in a broader way. That type of thing, I think, has been shown to be valued by the top schools because it gives them a greater sense of how the student might contribute to the vibrancy of the college community.</p>
<p>Does a perfect attendance award count for anything? Should it be noted on application or not?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>it may matter if you apply head on with other kid to the same college.</p>
<p>I don't know if the awards really count for much or not. DD has been invited to honors night for the past three years, yet we haven't attended once. DH and I would have liked to go, but DD said she had too much homework and studying to do and simply didn't have 3+ hours to spend at the function. Each time, they've called her to the counseling office the next day to pick up her awards, certificates, etc. It does seem ridiculous that they choose to have these award nights on a Monday night and right at a time when the very kids who are invited are entirely too busy trying to complete projects, papers and study for finals. Every year, DD says "maybe we'll get to go next year." </p>
<p>As for the perfect attendance question, this may not be a popular opinion, but I feel I must say something as a school nurse. Personally, I find it hard to believe that any child can get through the entire school year without being ill enough to stay home at least one day. Something that absolutely infuriates me are parents who send their children to school to expose others to contagious illness so their child can achieve perfect attendance. You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard, "but he didn't want to be marked absent ... he's got perfect attendance." Yeah, well who cares if little Johnny's exposing everyone else to pink eye, chickenpox, strep throat, etc., the important thing is that he get his perfect attendance certificate. Smiles, I swear this is not directed at you. It's a very sore subject with me. I have suggested numerous times that our school system do away with awarding perfect attendance certificates. It only encourages people to come to school sick. Of course, it ends up being a $$ issue for the school system as they receive $$ for every day that students are in attendance.</p>
<p>Thumper, your daughter's grades matter a whole lot more than those awards!</p>
<p>It's funny to come across this thread right now because not five minutes ago i was leafing through the scapbooks my wife made - one for each of my son's high school years. In each were the various "awards" he got for the respective years (Academic awards, department awards, etc.). I was struck by how little weight they carried in anything. Did he mention on any college apps that he was "Freshman of the Year" or that he got the "Best Student in French" award or ANY of the many other awards he received from the school? </p>
<p>Nope.</p>
<p>It seems to me that the awards that really meant anything at all came from outside organizations. The school generated ones always seemed like "awards designed to award awards" awards.</p>
<p>So what "honors" from HS really mattered? Probably the school letters (academic and sports activities), because wearing the letter jacket with the pins for multiple letters was a badge of achievement in the school.</p>
<p>Almost everything that defined my son as a student (besides the grades and test scores) were the activities he did. That (to me) is what's important and that was what ultimately became the heart of his applications and essays.</p>
<p>thumper, I think our daughters must be twins...at least in spirit. Mine is also a high achiever who quietly goes about her business without recognition. We had our initial GC meeting this spring...he said "I guess (D's name) never gets the recognition she deserves." I wanted to say "Yeah, joker, do something about it!" but I didn't.</p>
<p>I want to add here, that I agree with what you all are saying about the importance of some of these awards. BUT here is where I wonder what's what. For example, our high school gives at least 8 book awards from various colleges (presumably awarded by the English department), and awards like the RPI book award for math/science kiddos. AND there are many awards from outside agencies and businesses that are also awarded, mostly based on academic merit. There are a few that are citizenship or community service related as well. I guess the kiddos are nominated by their teachers...who then vote on the nominees. It seems more like a "popularity contest with the teachers" than anything else, especially since the same kids get the awards each year (and this has been noted by many parents...not just me). Call it sour grape if you'd like, but I can't help but wonder why my dd has NEVER received an award. Her GC remarked to me last week "she's a great kid but she's so quiet". I felt like saying "so what". Maybe it's the kids who are more vocal who get the recognition. I guess the quiet kids who do a good job shouldn't expect any acknowledgment.</p>
<p>Thumper, one of our quietest students got a full ride to Yale. She is now at Columbia getting her law degree. From my experience as faculty at a school, your daughter will get her acknowledgment in another way!</p>
<p>at my older daughters high school- all students were invited and expected to come to award ceremonies.( if I remember right it was during the day)
D recieved a Rotary club award ( at a seperate luncheon) an Arts award and her school community service award when she was a senior.
I doubt if she mentioned any of them in applications, nor did she say anything about particpating in CTY when she was in middle school.
I agree that the awards themselves don't matter as much as the person behind them. the strengths will show themselves in other ways- while it can be nice to be publically recognized, that shouldn't be the motivation.</p>
<p>Our school only gives out awards like this to seniors, in June, so they don't at all come into play for college applications (except National Honor Society to Juniors and top 5% of class each year).</p>
<p>Yeah, our school is the same way. We only have senior awards and they are given in June, after the college thing is all done. There are other things, but they are seperated. There is the NHS induction for juniors, various sports awards sponsored at the booster club banquet in the spring, and honor roll awards night for all students making the honor roll. I think that it is important to recognize student acheivement but I think some schools tend to go overboard with it. And it really won't matter to college admissions at all.</p>
<p>The perfect attendance award should be changed to "child who most likely infected his class award"</p>
<p>If it isn't national or a big state award, it probably won't matter much to most colleges. If it is student of the week (hour or minute), it will matter tremendously to grand parents. The best awards I ever got, (my wife and kids) I didn't deserve.</p>
<p>I am not big on awards, because looking back over thirty years I do not see much of a correlation between high school awards and life time achievement. The exceptions have been occasional scholarship awards that allowed a student to go to a better school.</p>
<p>There is a book I have often recommended, "What it Really Takes to Get into the Ivy League" by Chuck Hughes. The most valuable part of that book, in my opinion, are the lists of awards and achievements that attract the attention of top colleges. </p>
<p>Otherwise any in-school awards can be used to fill in the awards and honors sections of the app as space fillers. Unless you hit one that may be near and dear to the adcom reviewing the app, it isn't going to matter. NMF and other other designations can be very important to some schools, but the very top schools don't even care about that. As Digi noted, many of the more significant awards come from outside of the highschool. Looking at the book awards from last year, I don't see much correlation between them and who got into what college. In fact, I often see the top students limited in what they can receive. As though the schools feel that they get enough accolades.</p>
<p>
I doubt if she mentioned any of them in applications, nor did she say anything about particpating in CTY when she was in middle school.
Again I'm struck by this phenomenon of NOT mentioning things that seemed so important for "college applications" at the time. Apparently, the competitive schools know what's important for potential success, and I would suspect that listing or not listing most of these "awards" is not even on the radar screen.</p>
<p>The true awards that have REAL meaning are those that come with scholarship $$$$$$. (now I'm just being mercenary, but also more than a little facetious).</p>
<p>I can't speak for others, but the activities that D received awards for- weren't done with college apps in mind. I don't really think that far ahead.
She participated in art because she loved it- and her rotary & community service awards were also for something that she did because she loved it, not because we were thinking of college apps.
If we were really that well organized, I probably would have made her take an SAT class or at least study ;)
I would agree that to recieve money for an accomplishment, at least is giving you something tangible, but many of these things don't seem to come until well after applications are in, but at least the money comes in time to pay school tuition!</p>
<p>I don't know. I've received a few military leadership awards from various organizations (just received the Bronze Medallion from the Military Order of the World Wars in the past week, rec'd honors from Daughters of the American Revolution, Purple Heart, Reserve Officers Association, etc.,) but ... I doubt that they had much weight on the application.</p>
<p>Getting into Georgetown is no small feat, Tlaktan. I would be willing to bet that many of those honors made a difference. Clearly anything you receive after acceptance is not going to impact the decision, but your ECs must have been stellar and unusual just from this snippet I am reading here.</p>
<p>What awards DO matter then?</p>