District Aims To Honor More Achievers With New "Honor" System

The Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District is adopting a whole new way to honor students who’ve worked hard to achieve academic success.

Instead of celebrating the top 10 students at each high school, the district is looking to models like the UC system to establish highest honors and high honors for achieving students, and spreading awards to a whole new crop of students, such as independent study students and Sam Yeto High School students.

As Superintendent Jackie Cottingim-Dias writes:

“We are beginning a new tradition and moving away from selection of the "Top Ten" at each school site.  We have many students who have earned a GPA of 4.0 or above, and we have decided to celebrate the academic achievement of all of these students.  Therefore, the District has developed a system similar to the summa cum and magna cum model used by some universities including UC Berkeley -- Highest Honors and High Honors.”

The District Governing Board is slated to sponsor a June 2 event that will recognize the highest honors students, starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Fairfield Community Center. Roughly 70 students will receive recognition.

"We wanted to make sure that we put a system in place that would recognize all students that had met such as high standard,” said Sheila McCabe, Director of Secondary Education at the district.

Both highest honors and high honors achievers will receive special tassels for graduation, but more than that, these honors will help students with scholarships and entrance to college, McCabe said.

High honors students will be recognized at ceremonies at their respective schools, and a list of local students who will be honored will be available in the upcoming week, McCabe said.