The way the Purple and Gold Awards are being conducted does little for the recipients

The Purple and Gold Awards take place in May each year. In these awards, teachers recognize their best students in a given category. This is an admirable goal, though halfhearted in execution. If we could improve the system in small ways, the awards will come to be something that will benefit the whole school, rather than just a small portion.

For one, some teachers simply don’t nominate students, whether it’s because they don’t have the time or because they do not care. Well, if it was required, all teachers would just need to take a few minutes to think about which student stood out to them from all of their classes in a given subject, and nominate that student. This way, deserving students aren’t shortchanged if their teachers simply opt out because teachers can. It isn’t all that difficult, and once the Purple and Gold awards gain momentum, teachers as well as students will take it more seriously.

Several students simply didn’t show up to the Purple and Gold Awards. It seemed a rather private affair—there were so few nominated, and there were even fewer in attendance. Now, if this had the prestige of the Senior Awards ceremony, nothing would prevent them from coming because it was that big of a deal.

The integral thing preventing the Purple and Gold Awards from becoming a bigger event was that it was all too private. The invitations were emailed to only those that were receiving the award, and not even all of the recipients attended. The only people that have the power to make this a big deal—the administration—aren’t.To rectify this problem, the Purple and Gold Awards need to go public. Administration must post lists of invitees on doors, have ornate invitations sent to the recipients’ 5th period classrooms, make it an assembly.

It’s not in the MVHS tradition to not give a halfhearted effort, so why begin now? If the Purple and Gold Awards were a bigger event, both the recipients as well as those that did not receive awards would be able to take away something from the experience. There is no reason for the Purple and Gold awards not to be for a broader audience.

Next time, please don’t try to confuse students. The way the Purple and Gold Awards are being conducted is not enough either for the recipients or for the rest of the student body to know if the staff truly values these students as role models. Next time, maybe just send the recipients a cookie.

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