Awards are given out at the end of every school year. The categories are academic, athletic, and artistic. One of these awards was the Principal’s Recognition List award. But now that award is gone.

“There are more students that are on that list than off that list,” Principal Allen Leonard said. “So it is not so much of an honor to be on the list than a dishonor to be off the list.”

The Principal’s Recognition List is an award given to students with an 80 or above average in all of their courses. Honor Roll goes to the students that have a 90 percent or higher in all of their classes. Those who achieve a 93 percent or higher in all classes receive an Academic Letter. These awards are given out at the end of every semester.

“I don’t think it’s about the award,” freshman McKenzie Tucker said. “It’s about the overall grade.” She was awarded the Academic Letter.

However, the Principal’s Recognition List will not be awarded next year. With more students earning the award than those not, Leonard says this is not a sign of grade inflation.

Leonard also says that ending the award is not because he hand signs all of the certificates. “No, I sign so many things,” Leonard said. “It’s just one more piece [in] the pile.”

Sophomore Joseph Muzzillo earned the Principal’s Recognition List award last semester, but doesn’t see the upcoming change as having much of an impact. “I don’t think it will really affect the school at all,” Muzzillo said.

Junior Luis Loza, however, was not awarded the Principal’s Recognition List. “I think that [the award] gives other students a chance to show what they can do in their academics and their activities,” Loza said. “For those who don’t have the best grades but are good people at heart, shows that have a chance to be commended.”

The removal of the Principal’s Recognition List award, shows how much the administration truly “demands excellence” of Starr’s Mill students.