Santa Rosa students create award to honor character traits

By Emily Hoos
Menifee 24/7 Intern

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."

Santa Rosa Academy is a highly distinguished school that has one mission, and that is to teach kids that character comes not behind education, but alongside it. Every month, the school focuses on a different character trait and awards a small number of students who have exemplified immense amounts of this character trait. Yet even for a school that primarily focuses on the temperament of the students, Santa Rosa Academy’s student council believed that this, in fact, was not enough. Therefore, they curated an entirely new award labeled as the Student Award.

This award is given to the students, by the students. Senior Secretary Faith McCullough said that "As students, we are around each other a lot more than we are around our teachers. Often times, we get to see a side of students that some teachers do not always get to see. We wanted an award that honored the students who continuously show character when nobody is watching."

Every month, students are able to fill out a form with the name of the student they wish to elect, along with a few reasons they believe this student deserves this prestigious award. This enables students who often go unrecognized in their efforts to be acknowledged for the things they do purely out of the goodness of their rectitude. Elected members of SRA’s Student Council then select a fitting nominee to receive the award.

This month’s award reflected the character of generosity and was bestowed upon senior Angela Darpinian. This student was said to be “always willing to help others and puts herself last. She is always sharing and giving and consistently goes beyond her call of duty in everything she does,” according to Alexis Munoz.

This award has become a highlight to Santa Rosa Academy’s monthly character assemblies and has been well received by both students and staff.

"Every month, we receive around a hundred responses of students writing paragraphs about how they have noticed their peers and have shown character," said Vy Pham. "It’s amazing to see the support that these students give each other and how so many take this award seriously. It is truly eye opening to see such an immense amount of character on campus every day."

Students are now wanting to engage and apply character to their everyday lives and are excited to see their peers win an award. It has given a chance for teenagers to, rather than zone out the school’s efforts to instill character within their students, become aware of their peers and recognize others’ frame of mind.