Seventeen juniors were honored at the California Scholarship Federation (CSF) Awards ceremony on May 21. Their teachers and guidance counselors recognized them for excellence in STEM, humanities and leadership fields.

The ceremony occurred after school in the cafeteria, with families of the students invited. Refreshments of fruit and bottled water were provided to the attendees, which included assistant principal Brian Safine and LGSUHSD board member Cynthia Chang.

Among the various students, Bijan Naimi was awarded the NCTE Achievement Award in Writing by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Naimi, as well as Victor Liu, won this particular accolade for being a national winner in the NCTE’s annual Achievement Awards in Writing contest for 11th graders. Their certificates were presented by English 11 Honors teachers Amy Keys and Natasha Ritchie.

“I wasn’t expecting [to win an award], but I’m really grateful to have been selected,” Naimi said.

Jamie Hong, who was presented the Xerox Award for Innovation and Information Technology by math and computer science teacher Debra Troxell, also said that she felt honored and motivated by her award.

“I feel lucky to be surrounded by support from teachers, the school and the community,” Hong said. “I am inspired to keep doing what I love: sharing the love of science and creativity every day.”

Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award: Carolyn Ma (presented by Cheryl Lenz)

Brown Book Award: Ashley Feng (presented by Natasha Ritchie)

California Mathematics Council Certificate: Michael Zhang (presented by PJ Yim)

George Eastman Leadership Award: Roshan Verma (presented by Matt Torrens)

George Washington Book Award: Madison Hartmann (presented by Matt Torrens)

Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony Award in Humanities and Social Sciences: Khiara Berkowitz (presented by Hana Chen)

Harvard Book Award: Chelsea Leung (presented by Amy Keys)

MIT Leadership Award: Annie Xu (presented by Cheryl Lenz)

Mount Holyoke College Book Award: Muthu Palaniappan (presented by Natasha Ritchie)

NCTE Achievement Award in Writing: Victor Liu, Bijan Naimi (presented by Amy Keys, Natasha Ritchie)

Rensselaer Medal Winner: Joseph Li (presented by Kirk Davis)

Smith College Book Award: Cameron Lin (presented by Amy Keys)

Tulane University Book Award: Alex Ruemmler (presented by Nina Krammer, Faith Stackhouse-Daly)

Wellesley Book Award:  Ruchi Maheshwari (presented by Natasha Ritchie)

Williams College Book Award:  Kaitlyn Wang (presented by Amy Keys)

Xerox Award for Innovation and Information Technology: Jamie Hong (presented by Debra Troxell)