Patriot Perspective: Black and gold requires revisions

Patriot+Perspective%3A+Black+and+gold+requires+revisions

The Black and Gold Award is granted to a senior that … well, no one really knows. The award is considered the most prestigious award any Patriot can earn, but qualifications are cloudy at best. We believe the award lacks notoriety, clarity, and has issues with the selection process itself.

The biggest issue is the lack of notoriety regarding the award. Wouldn’t it make sense for the most prestigious award to be the one talked about the most? Unfortunately, a search on the website reveals a one sentence story of winners from 2013. Additionally, the school “congratulates” all the past winners with a small, nondescript plaque outside the Upper Gym that you may have noticed one day while waiting for your ride, but probably not.

Notoriety can easily be fixed with announcements and assemblies. From the beginning, underclassmen should be introduced to the idea of the award in order to attract attention to this great honor. Each year after the nominees are selected, an announcement over the loudspeaker should be made congratulating them. Then, right before the vote is to be cast for the ultimate winners, the seniors should meet in the auditorium to get an in-depth explanation of the award’s criteria.

The most important fix would be to change the day in which the recipients are honored. Currently the award is bestowed upon the winners during the Senior Showcase, an event that not all teachers and students attend. We propose to revise the system by having the award be presented during the Senior Awards Assembly, when all other senior awards are given. This would create excitement and notoriety around the school, considering it is the last day that the class comes together before graduation.

Hand-in-hand with notoriety comes clarity. There is no specific, concrete criteria that dictates what type of person is eligible for the award. To fix this, we propose strict requirements that each nominee must attain to be accepted as a viable candidate.

The proposed regulations: each nominee should not be allowed a single demerit. An individual must display variety and commitment in a multitude of areas. (Whether a nominee be an athlete, a thespian, a musician, or a member of student government, he or she needs to have a strong presence in our school community. He or she should be involved in multiple clubs with a varying degree of commitment.) The individual must have been a student for at least three years. He or she must have a cummulative QPA of 33. Each nominee must also be above the service hour requirement.

These are not the be-all and end-all of requirements, as an appeal process should be formulated so an active, inspiring student who meets some, but not all, of the requirements can be nominated under his or her unique circumstance.

In short, each nominee should participate in multiple activities while still inspiring others, giving back to the school, and being “compelling, considerate, and uncompromising.”

Another faulty area is the selection process. It’s only natural to nominate someone who is your friend. To prohibit students from being that position and the award turn into a popularity contest, we propose a change in the process. We would have teachers first create a pool of applicants, ranging from 5-10 nominees, in order for the seniors to choose the ultimate winners.

At a mandatory meeting the teachers would discuss and vote for the ten most viable seniors. As explained previously, the nominees would be announced to the whole school and the seniors then would be explained the specific guidelines that dictate which students should win the Black and Gold Award in a class meeting. Then, a couple weeks later, the seniors would meet again to cast their votes, choosing the ultimate winners.

We have recommended ways to make the guidelines more clear, the selection process different, and the award more established. The staff hopes that administrators take this proposal and mull it over. We, the student body, want to see a change in an award that we bestow upon a fellow classmate. We are happy to have the chance to do such an honorable thing, but we want to ensure the most deserving individuals win.