Friday, May 12, 2017, happened to be the day when two of the most important events of the year took place: the Random Acts of Kindness Breakfast and the Crystal Apple Awards Ceremony.

The Random Acts of Kindness program was created to recognize students who went out of their way to be selfless and perform nice acts for others’ benefit. I personally found money on the floor and turned it into the main office. I didn’t think much of it, so I was surprised, to say the least when presented with a certificate congratulating me for what I did. While everyone was waiting to snack on bagels and doughnuts, I asked around about what other students did. For example, eleventh-grade student Kevin Risley stated that he “pushed an old man’s electric scooter out of the gravel around the football field, because he was trying to the parking lot and got stuck”.

This goes to show that there are many good-hearted students attending Lenape, and it is worth recognizing them to show the rest of the students that it doesn’t take a lot to be kind.

That afternoon, once classes were over, the Crystal Apple Awards were held. The idea of the award is for the students to nominate teachers that made an impact in their school lives, be it academically or otherwise. The last ceremony was held seven years ago, so this was a pretty big deal for both the nominators and the nominated. Nine students were selected to read their nomination essays (and one wonderful poem) to the entire Lenape staff and the teachers they nominated were all presented with the award. After a heartwarming speech from Principal Cattani, the students were called up one by one to read their pieces. Let me tell you, tears were shed on both ends and our smiles reached our eyes. We all love our teachers, and we want to show our appreciation in any way we can, so thank goodness for the Crystal Apple, because just thanking them isn’t enough. The students and their teachers are as follows:

Marykate Reick nominated Mrs Sue Burns

Glenn Hubbard nominated Mrs Kim Condurso

Sophie Mavrodin nominated Mrs Mary Ann Stecher

Mike Higgins nominated Mr Joseph Porco

Emily DeSantos nominated Mr Brendan Moore

Emily Ferguson nominated Mrs Mary Pallis

Amanda Smalfus nominated Mr Jeremy Knoll

Jayen Patel nominated Mr John Carnevale

Michael Donnelly nominated Mr André Lopez.