A select group of students was $50 richer after receiving the Rachel H. Austin Award, Wednesday May 17. School officials distributed the Austin Awards to 71 Paly students who have displayed "academic excellence, striving and achievement" this past school year. The lunchtime ceremony for the Award winners, led by Assistant Principal Katya Villalobos, drew a crowd of parents and teachers to honor the students, as each recipient was presented with their award.

The annual awards were given out in eight categories: English, math, world languages, special education, social studies, science, career vocational education and visual and performing arts. Students in all four grade levels were notified via postal mail of their achievement, but, students were not informed in advance who exactly nominated them. Students are only allowed to receive the Rachel H. Austin award once in their high school careers.

"It’s nice to know that when you put a lot of effort into a class, your teachers notice and try to acknowledge your hard work," junior Zev Karlin-Neumann said upon receiving the award in the social studies category. "There are so many people at Paly who work really hard, and everyone deserves to be recognized."

Rachel Austin, a former Paly home economics teacher for more than three decades, helped organize the award program before her death. Students who received the awards this year took home a plaque to commemorate their achievement and a $50 check, from a fund that Austin left behind.

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ENGLISH

Jamie Tipton, freshman

Kelly Zhou, freshman

Anabell Cervantes, sophomore

Joanna Goldin, sophomore

Mike Martin, sophomore

Hilary Brennan-Marquez, junior

Ryan Giordano, junior

Arunima Kohli, junior

Martha Bass, senior

Ariel Shaker, senior

Kevin Trimble, senior

MATH

Jasmine Berk, freshman

Rachel Rosen, freshman

Naomi Abraham, sophomore

Michael Fittoria, sophomore

Jordon Ganschow, sophomore

Jamie Dunbar, junior

William Frazier, junior

Alicia Ivanhoe, junior

Kehri Fisher, senior

Becky Wenzlau, senior

Kyle Wyatt, senior

Fisher, David — Computer Science

WORLD LANGUAGES

Daniel Chew — German

Matt Lettice — Japanese

Julius Berezin — Spanish

Sarah Flamm — Spanish

Brian Hsueh — Spanish

Michelle Singh — Spanish

Danielle Kim — French

Jillian Liu — French

Hee Sang D. Woo — French

Lisa Herbst — American Sign Language

SPECIAL EDUCATION

Patrick Branch — Academic Achievement

Graham Petersen — Academic Achievement

SOCIAL STUDIES

Allison Coleman, freshman

Grace LaPier, freshman

Meytal Radzinski, freshman

Melissa Guererro, sophomore

Sarah Stringer, sophomore

Bridget Hurn-Maloney, junior

Alex Ji, junior

Zev Karlin-Neuman, junior

Michael Findley, senior

Leo Franchi, senior

Elizabet Warshaw-Vickery, senior

SCIENCE

Emily Banks, freshman

Crystal Valencia, freshman

John Berry, sophomore

Kate Jensen, sophomore

Alexa Jones, sophomore

Joseph Rodriguez, junior

Steven Scano, junior

Adam Whitfield, junior

Shane Clark, senior

Jalyssa Clay, senior

Heather Ostrau, senior

CAREER VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

Maeve Condrell — Web Design

Mike Froniewski — Auto Tech

Brenna Nagao — Foods

Faraz Jaffer — Engineering Tech

Clark Willison — Engineering Tech

VISUAL & PREFORMING ARTS

Sarah Young — Theatre

Auster Chen — Art

Alex Glaves — Art

Tatiana Smith — Art

Justin Yeh — Art

Jeanna Ko — Instrumental Music

Sarah Nitzan — Choral Music

Jay Yang — Video Production

Christina Chon — Photography