Benicia High's Million Dollar Babies

On Wednesday evening,   hosted its annual awards ceremony for seniors who won scholarships. The Hayley Horn Auditorium was packed with students, proud parents, school faculty, staff and presenters of awards. School board member Rosie Switzer and Superintendent Janice Adams were also in attendance.

Mistress of Ceremonies Jackie French welcomed the excited crowd and the high school Principal Gary Jensen said a few words about how proud he is of all the  students. There were 60 different scholarships awarded, many with multiple winners, in amounts ranging from $500 to $30,000.

Several awards were sponsored by local businesses. Dr. Barry Parish of awarded eight students with scholarships along with a grocery bag of Top Ramen and a hot pot. Gene Pedrotti of presented two different awards.

Local community organizations like Benicia Lions, Kiwanis, and Soroptomists awarded scholarships. Schools like UCLA, Saint Mary's and the United States Naval Academy also awarded exceptional students. 

Emily Healy walked away with a $20,000 award for University of California Santa Cruz from the UC Regents. Patrick Hollister was awarded a $25,000 scholarship and Katherine August won the $30,000 award from University of California Davis.

A few outstanding students won multiple awards like Kenya Wright who received a total of six, one of which was a Pedrotti award. “I was really surprised about the Pedrotti award,” she said before heading home to do homework.

Krista Pezella won six awards including a Kiwanis Club and Women's Club scholarship. When asked how she would celebrate, she replied “By going home to study for my physics test.”

Maria Herd and Nick DeFazio each won 3 awards. DeFazio said, “I feel good. This will definitely help with college.” He had plans to take a night off from homework and sleep instead.

Dante West also received six awards including the Hayley Horn Pay it Forward scholarship. The BHS auditorium is named after student who died of Cystic Fibrosis at the age of 17. Her parents David and Karen Horn presented the award to West,

Usually there is only one winner of the Hayley Horn award, but this year there was a special circumstance. The Horns had met art student  previously at another event and were was so impressed with her that they suggested she apply for the scholarship. Trignali explained that she and her best friend, Dante West, agreed to not apply for the same awards as to not compete with each other. She even wrote a letter asking special consideration of West.

The Horns decided to award a second scholarship to Trignali. When she approached the stage to receive her award, the audience responded with cheers and a few tears.

The Hayley Horn award is one of the few that is not based on grades, but instead on the character of the person and their contribution to their community. Another award not based on academic achievement was the first

After the ceremony, Principal Jensen said he felt fabulous. “There are not enough adjectives to describe the great things our kids do,” said Jensen. He admitted it was hard saying goodbye to seniors. “They'll all go on to make Benicia proud.”