The Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District Board of Trustees honored the first recipients of the district’s Roaring & Soaring Board Recognition Award at the Jan. 14 board meeting.
From SHS, campus supervisor Archie Ljepava and senior Saachi Jain were honored in the first meeting. Jain was recognized for her work in the school orchestra, Falcon Family Peer Tutor program, the Saratoga Falcon newspaper as editor-in-chief and the MSET Robotics outreach program. Through his guidance as head coach in the football program and track, Ljepava’s role in “ensuring the safety and well-being of students and staff exemplifies the Falcon spirit in every way” was noted in a press release.
“I like giving back to the youth and being able to mentor younger kids into being better people when they leave high school,” Ljepava said. “It’s not always about sports and that type of thing. It’s about being able to teach them tools they can use when they get older when they go to college or into the workforce.”
At the Feb. 11 board meeting, two more SHS community members were honored as monthly recipients. Cafeteria lead Orfa Escalante was recognized for keeping the SHS Falcon Café running by serving high quality and adaptable meals. Senior Tarun Ramakrishnan received the student award thanks to his work as the senior class vice president, involvement in the school choir, water polo team and the school’s upcoming spring musical, “The Little Mermaid.”
When superintendent Heath Rocha assumed the role of acting superintendent last October (that role was recently made permanent), he wanted a way to regularly recognize certificated and classified support staff and students honorees at both schools. Public information officer Tanya De La Cruz and Rocha came up with the idea of the Roaring & Soaring Board Recognition to include both the Los Gatos and Saratoga community, with the Wildcats representing “Roaring” and the Falcons “Soaring.”
“Each recognition is an opportunity to share gratitude for the incredible caring climate our staff and students create every day at our schools,” De La Cruz said. “Every day, there are stories of how staff and students are helping to make their schools and district continuously better for their colleagues and peers. This recognition is the superintendent and Board of Trustees way of recognizing these stories.”
The Los Gatos High and Saratoga High principals and assistant principals nominate staff and students who they believe go above and beyond to make their school a better place, then De La Cruz, working with Rocha, prepares the recognitions, certificates and scripts to honor each person.
“[Students and staff can be awarded for anything] from a small act to an ongoing service,” De La Cruz said. “There are no designated qualities or criteria.”
Each recognition takes place at a board meeting, with an additional picture of the honorees posted on the district’s social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
“I just appreciate being able to get the opportunity to work at such a great place and have such good colleagues,” Ljepava said. “I think everybody here is for the same reasons, so it takes a team and I really believe that it’s a team effort and the kind of family atmosphere where we all kind of just pick each other up.”
