Photo by Brooke Santos
By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
The Palisades Charter High School annual Senior Awards Banquet took place on Thursday, May 29, at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica.
Organized by Pali High Director of College Advising Karen Ellis, the two-and-a-half-hour afternoon program opened with comments by Principal Dr. Pam Magee, who praised the Class of 2025 for showing bravery and resilience in the aftermath of the Palisades fire in January that caused significant damage to their school and community.
Annalisa Hurd was honored as valedictorian, Grace Hardy and Williams Schwartz as salutatorians, and Willa Browne, Davina Ephraim, Annika Johansson, Bailey No and Cloe Nourparvar as PCHS Ambassadors.
Recognized for their leadership roles in ASB were Charlie Speiser, Ava Friedman, Taylor Beljon-Regen, Jiwon Kim and Melanie Hernandez.
Receiving Booster Club Exceptional Visual and Performing Arts Awards were James Ball (Orchestra), Karina Chun (Visual Art), Ephraim (Dance), Tema Ferrene (Theater), Cyrus Hemmens (Choir), Jasper Hoegh-Guldberg (Filmmaker), Sophia Hoph (Tech Award), Johansson (Performance), Sloan Mayer (Ceramics), Jaron Paris (Writing), Madeleine Rothman and Ariel Port (Technical Theatre), Henry Sims (Photography), Ryan Vela Garcia (Visual Art), Avery Waxman-Lee (Band), and Jude Waxman Lee (Outstanding Film Award).
PTSA Community Service Scholarships went to Leena Adeli, Beljon-Regen, Ephraim, Arik Kraft and Shayan Naeim; Justice League for Excellence Awards went to Dalila Castillo-Gomez, Elijah Hamid, Jiwon Kim, Afoma-Kojo Onwaeze and Zyla McDowell.
Booster Club Suitcase Awards went to Vincent Lalonde, Ryan Lutz, Onwaeze, Itati Pelayo-Najar, Luis Ramirez and Casey Scaduto, and Booster Link Crew Leadership Awards went to Mitchel Ghotanian and Layla Johnese.
The Michele-Misetich-Friedlander Memorial Award was given to Sam Jacobson; the Pacific Palisades Historical Society Award was given to Zachary Shapiro; and the Dillon Henry Memorial Scholarship went to Beljon-Regen and Naeim.
The Resilient Palisades Environmental Advocate Award was shared by Brigitte Appelbaum, Ryan Carpenter, Kraft, Sienna Monnier and Daniella Traum; the M.A.T.H Award was presented to Logan Christopher and Brandon Lustgarten; the PCHS Community Service Scholarship went to Emily Kim; and the Woman’s Club Exceptional Young Women Award for Leadership went to Adeli, Beljon-Regen and Isabelle Kocher.
Receiving the Booster Club Environthon Award was Avery Waxman-Lee; the Booster Club DECA Award went to Theodore Brainard, Nicole Jamedor and Jada Michael; and the Booster Club Spec. Ed., Temescal award went to Amaris Diaz, Atlas Mancia and Luke Sunshine. The Anita Stephens Memorial Award Journalism Scholarship went to Lily Dair; Carpenter won the Booster Award for Foreign Languages; Lustgarten won the Physics Award; and Kiana Nikneshan, Abby Wallace and Ren Wohlschlegal won ACADEC Most Inspirational Competitor honors.
Hamid and Noelle Hardy won the Rose Gilbert Academic Promise Scholarship; Miranda Casas and Viktoriia Oberderfer won the Rose Gilbert Courage Award; Gianluca Martinez, McDowell, Ramirez and Bianca Tejada won First Generation Awards; Matin Fahangnia and Ella Kraynak won the Mama “G” Award for Excellence in English Literature; and Beljon-Regen won the Future Educator Award.
Hurd and Samantha Sonnett were National Merit Winners, and Piper Houghton and Jiwon Kim were recognized for having perfect attendance all four years.
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