The school’s annual awards ceremony was held in the auditorium on May 15. The awards ceremony recognizes student achievement throughout all core subjects: English, math, science, social studies, world languages and arts. Students also receive awards that are not directly school-specific such as Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) scholarships, National Merit recognition and Governor’s Merit Scholar awards.
Assistant Principal Margaret Broe was the coordinator of this year’s awards ceremony and described the process for choosing students to win awards. “The process is that all of the Resource Teachers, people who are in charge of all the different departments, are sent a whole list of awards. After talking to the teachers, each department head determines which students get what award. For example, somebody might get the Excellence in AP Calculus AB award. That’s probably a student who has worked really, really hard and has the highest grade in AP Calc. It would be something like that,” Broe said.
Alongside general academic awards, the awards ceremony also announced the 2025 Hall of Fame award recipient. “[The award] exemplifies a student at Wootton who is doing things to build community and to be someone just besides a student who comes to school every day. It’s really that student that’s going to go that extra mile,” Broe said.
The Hall of Fame award was established in honor of Pedram Tousi, a junior who died in a car accident in 1997. Tousi embodied excellence in academics, athletics, community service and racial and religious equity. Thus, his legacy was commemorated through the Hall of Fame award.
To select a winner for the Hall of Fame award, teachers were given a list of every current junior. Teachers in departments chose a student who they believe best personifies Hall of Fame qualities and eventually, the list narrows down to two finalists. The finalists answer an essay prompt and then based on the essay, teachers vote again. This year, finalists included juniors Andrew Yang and Christian Smithson before Smithson was selected as next year’s awardee.
Smithson’s impact on the school community can be attributed to his strive for inclusivity. “I try to include everyone, that’s kind of my thing. I want to build a personal connection with every single person at Wootton, which is kind of like what I touched on in my presidential campaign. I’m really glad that the teachers and the students around me recognized that because it’s good to see that your work has been recognized,” Smithson said.
Smithson said he feels grateful for receiving this award and hopes that he can be an exemplar for others. “I feel great. My family is really proud and happy and we’re also very grateful for this. It’s good to see that I’ve created a positive legacy for Wootton and hopefully, I can be a model for other minority men and women to come,” Smithson said.
Broe said acknowledging student work is an important part of the awards ceremony. “Students here work really hard in athletics, academics and community service. I think it’s just a nice culmination of the year and acknowledgment of students’ hard work. I just hope that it was a meaningful night. I just think it’s nice to be recognized and acknowledged for the hard work that you all do. This is a great school; this is also a competitive school but it’s nice to have one night where we include everybody,” Broe said.
