Area Students Awarded With "Highest Honors"

High school students with top grade point averages across the Fairfield-Unified School District received awards Thursday night.

The group of 70 young adults brought family and friends to join in the celebration at the Fairfield Community Center for the first annual Highest Honors Awards Ceremony.

 “We at the Fairfield-Suisun school district know that our world is in very good hands…” said Jacki Cottingim-Diaz, Superintendent. “You have everything in the world of which to be proud."

Students from Rodriguez High, Armijo High, and Fairfield High were introduced by their school principle, then shook hands with a row of over 15 notable figures including Suisun City Mayor Pete Sanchez; Fairfield Mayor Harry Price; school board members Dave Gaut, Helen Tilley, and Kathy Marianno; Solano County Office of Education Superintendent of Schools Jay Speck; and representatives from the offices of  Senator Barbara Boxer, Congressman John Garamendi, and Assemblyperson  Mariko Yamada.

“My only request is, as they say in the Air Force, aim high,” said Mayor Sanchez during his address to the students.

The ceremony was sponsored by the school district’s governing board in joint effort with the City of Fairfield and City of Suisun City.

Traditionally, 10 high school seniors with grade point averages of 4.0 and above are chosen from each high school to be given top honors awards. This year however, the district wanted to recognize all students who had been able to uphold their grades at that level. Additionally, the student’s transcripts will be noted with their achievement. Students received various certificates of recognition from the different offices represented that day, as well as a tassle to wear on their graduation cap denoting their highest honors achievement.

Armijo High School Students, Maneesh Vij and Jad Souki, were present to receive their awards.

“I feel really good,” said Souki. “We both are enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program. It’s not offered in any other school in Solano County but Armijo and the results show that 30 kids are getting rewards for having high honors.

Vij, valedictorian of his graduating class, said that the IB program has done a lot to prepare him and friends for their life after high school. Students in the program do not just focus on academics, however. He said the program has also taught students how to be as well rounded as possible; most in the program also play sports, or are involved in some type of club or other extracurricular activity.

 Vij will be attending Yale University this fall and Souki plans to attend UC Davis.

“Being enrolled in the IB program, you not only have to be smart, but you also have to be dedicated to what you do,” said Souki. “It is a daily drag and a daily struggle to maintain your grades and to maintain the rest of your social life, to be perfectly honest. It has shaped us into the leaders we are today.”