My son’s school had some silly student-elected Cum Laude society where last year’s members got to vote on the applicants. It of course became a popularity contest, more so each year, as popular kids came to dominate the election.
I’m glad though, because DS and many other kids got to see how silly these things can be. The college application results of the selected were no better than the others, and I think AOs know better than to attach any weight to these things. I’m sure the newspaper write ups made more than one grandparent proud though 
My son’s take on this was: “well, if I can’t be voted into the Cum Laude society in high school, I guess I’ll have to be awarded cum laude or better at Yale.”