Sahuaro’s 2024 Honors Night was held on Tuesday, May 14th, at 6:00 P.M.

After a performance from Sahuaro’s orchestra and choir, the night started with our student body president, Sierra Jacobo, leading us in the pledge. After that Congressman Juan Ciscomani gave a speech. The most memorable piece was the ending: “…Always remember your own identity, and that’s what’s gonna keep you grounded. No matter what success you achieve, and no matter how success is defined in your life”.

After that heart-touching speech, the honoring of our students started with counselors announcing all the seniors with merit scholarships based on their academic achievements over the past 4 years. 123 merit scholarships from colleges such as U of A, ASU, NAU, NMU, PCC, GCU, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical were recognized.

The Unified in Diversity award was then presented by Ms. Good to Kalia Davis, Masai Rice, Daniel Valenzuela, Benite Luhando, and Keylee Thompson. This award is given to students who have cultivated a culture where diversity is celebrated.

Our student service awards, presented to only Student Council members were given by Mrs. Radloff, who read off Mrs. Trujillo’s speech to each student.

Jeremiah Bonds received the Ann Grose Spirit Award, given out to an outstanding Student Council sophomore. Mrs. Radloff shared that Jeremiah, “…Did a great job of building our classroom community. Jeremiah is reliable and he is a valued member of Student Council, and we are more than excited to have him back as the junior class treasurer for next school year.”

Seth Gustafsson received the Chuck Adams Student Council Achievement, voted on by peers, and goes to a senior student council member for outstanding support and leadership. Seth shares that his favorite part of StuCo is “…Connecting with the students and building a strong community and helping the new leaders become better leaders.” Mrs. Radloff went on to share, “Seth is the most positive peer role model that I know and has helped mentor many underclassmen over the last 2 years. Seth has made a lasting impact on our class and on Sahuaro as a whole. He will be greatly missed by all of us. We can not wait to hopefully have you back as a staff member.”

The Dorance Scholarship was presented by Michelle Thomas to two students who are first-generation college students in their family. “…The support given to students over their four years is monetarily immeasurable. We are beyond excited to welcome this new class, which includes two seniors from Sahuaro High School. Please join me in congratulating Valerie Juarez and Jonas Page,” Thomas said. 

Valerie Juarez says it is “…Very hard because I’ve had to navigate all this on my own.” Jonas Page agreed, saying, “…With no guidance, it’s hard to go through those processes; with guidance from the people at Dooran and all the university staff, they make it easier to navigate.”

Before honoring our military enlistees, Sgt. Carlos Martinez said, “To become a Marine from Sahuaro High School here, it’s very humbling to be able to be a part of a school that’s patriotic and supports their school and the military as they do.”

We also honored our seniors who are taking a different route – military enlistment. These three seniors were recognized by Sgt Calvin Myers & Sgt Carlos Martinez. Bryce Marine-Bess is our only student going into the Air Force, and  Andrew Goerke and Gavin Rothwell are going into the Marine Corps.

Our Cougar Spirit Award was presented by Peter DeMars and given out to Freshman Maria Kpakpo, Sophomore Andrew Kruszewski, and Junior Marley Gandee. This is given to students from each class, for their outstanding spirit, support, and dedication to Sahuaro’s activities.

Our David Ashcraft Award, presented to a student who is bound for post-high school study in fine arts and has epitomized the qualities of an outstanding Fine Arts student at Sahuaro, was given to Valerie Juarez.

The Cougar Pride Scholarship was presented by Jan Boyd to two college-bound seniors who have achieved both academic and athletic success – Justin Payne and Cassandra Coolidge.

The Ann Grose Memorial Scholarship was presented by Jan Boyd to Benite Luhando. This scholarship is in memory of Ann Grose, Sahuaro’s Student Council Advisor from 1977-1998. Benite shared how her experience in Student Council was, “…amazing because of staff and Cougars.”

After that, we have the Harry Johnson Spirit Award, presented by Fran Johnson to Seth Gustafsson. This award is given to a senior who has shown outstanding spirit, support, and dedication to Sahuaro’s activities and community.

The Hal Ejustice Award – an award in memory of Sahuaro’s first baseball coach, was presented to Ethan Bess and Rogelio Gonzalez.

The Dick McConnell Memorial Scholarship is given out in honor of his 774 career victories. This was presented by Steve Botkin to Brooklyn Comfort.

The Cougar Foundation Senior Scholarship was presented by Peter DeMars to Marisol Dominguez. This award is given to a college-bound senior at Sahuaro with a 2.4-3.49 GPA. And here’s how she earned it: “…It’s hard but it’s easy if you’re willing to put in the work and stay locked in.”

The Red and Blue Cougar Foundation Scholarship was presented by Peter DeMars to Canberra Basham, Logan Culliton, Victoria Ojeda Gomez, and Ryker Oswalt. This award is given to 4 college-bound seniors at Sahuaro with a 3.5-4.0 GPA.

Our next category was the Excellence Awards. The Outstanding Initiative and Effort Award was presented by Peter DeMars to Arion Burnette. This is awarded to a student who has exhibited outstanding enthusiasm and sustained positive efforts in goal-setting to fulfill future aspirations.

The Most Improved Student Award was presented by Peter DeMars to Yolanda Hill. This is given to a student who has exhibited outstanding improvement during their time at Sahuaro.

After that, we had Coach Botkin recognize our athletic awards. These were given to the 13 students who excelled in their sport and received athletic scholarships to play at the next level.

Coach Botkin then went on to present Senior Athlete of the Year to Cassie Coolidge and Nick Ponds. Nick shares that he balanced school and sports with, “…time management; it’s pretty easy you just gotta know how much time you got and measure it perfectly”.

After finally recognizing all of our seniors’ achievements, awards, and scholarships that they’ve put years of hard work and limitless dedication into, Mr. Estrella closed our ceremony.

Congratulations to the award winners at Honors Night. Your hard work and dedication has taken you this far already and we can’t wait to see where you will go from here.