On Thursday, April 27, in the Father Barry Gymnasium, Jesuit High School Sacramento celebrated its annual Student Awards Convocation. The Jesuit community in its entirety, from staff and faculty to parents, gathered together to celebrate this year’s student accomplishments. 

Principal Dr. Michael Wood ’99 emphasizes the importance of recognizing student achievements in their involvement at Jesuit.

“The purpose of the Student Awards Convocation is to celebrate and honor students who have given significantly to the life of the school,” Dr. Wood said. “Or [those who] have demonstrated significant talents or skills in certain areas of academic life, co-curricular activities, spiritually, faith formation.”

Assistant Principal for Student Life Ms. Sarah Ruano played an important role in the ceremony, announcing many of the awards that were given. She believes that the Student Awards Convocation also celebrates the academic years as a whole as well as the students. 

“It’s a nice opportunity to get together and reflect on a year gone by and to celebrate one another,” Mrs. Ruano said. “But again, we all have our gifts and talents and we recognize that as well.”

Mrs. Ruano hopes that students should be inspired by the Student Awards Convocation and think of it as an encouragement to keep pushing themselves outside of their comfort zones. 

“It’s important to be grateful and to recognize our accomplishments but also be motivated by others to always strive to be better and do better,” Mrs. Ruano said.

Dylan McMains ’23, who received many awards including the John Philip Sousa Award, which honors excellence in the Jesuit band, noticed the variety of talents and people that were recognized, and like Mrs. Ruano, Dylan is a big believer in the encouragement aspect of the convocation.

“You can see all of this diversity and all of these unique ideas and personalities come together,” Dylan said. “And I think it’s this gratification in a good way, I think there’s a lot of validation and empowerment in the convocation, and I’m very appreciative of that.”