$475,000 awarded to 118 South Tahoe High seniors

During a series of recent awards ceremonies, South Tahoe High(STHS) students were recognized for academic success, attendance and bilingual immersion.

The annual Senior Awards Night saw 118 students recognized with $475,000 in scholarships. During the evening, 64 individual presentations honored one or more students for achievements.

Outside of the awards night, STHS is celebrating the fact that 24 of their 26 athletic teams went on to regional and/or state championships, two students were accepted to the California State Honor Band, both students performances this year (White Christmas and You Can't Take it With You) were before full audiences and digital photography students won two of three first place awards for the state of California.

The Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe teamed with the school to reward perfect attendance, a key factor in achieving high levels of learning. To promote excellent attendance, STHS utilizes several interventions designed to support habits of good attendance and a successful learning experience according to Vice-Principal Justin Zunino. One intervention is through incentive. On several occasions during the 2016/17 school year, STHS recognized individual students for perfect attendance over a certain period of time. In this last round of recognition, students with perfect attendance and no tardiness for the month of April were given a choice: a movie ticket, bowling, free admission to extra-curricular event, or a simple snack from the cafeteria.

In total, 187 students were recognized, 20 of this group are pictured above along with some Kiwanis members and Zunino.

"STHS would like to thank Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe for their ongoing support for student achievement," said Zunino. "Similar efforts are planned to continue next school year."

The school is wrapping up their year with notable accomplishments: implementation of two-way bilingual immersion courses, continued implementation of common core state standards in mathematics and English, and additional career technical education courses including fitness hospitality and tourism.