As the end of the 2024-25 school year comes nearer, the folks at Riverbank High School celebrated last week with an awards program recognizing Academic Block R student recipients at all four class grade levels.

The program was held in the Ray Fauria Memorial Gymnasium, on Wednesday, April 30.

RHS Principal Ed Vaca welcomed the audience full of family, friends and the honored students, explaining how the Academic Awards worked. Depending which class they were in, freshman through seniors, the GPA required varies just a bit, but he noted that this year's group included 139 students.

Not all were in attendance that evening, but those who were gathered before all was said and done, for a photo opportunity in the bleachers, afterward.

The printed program started with a quote from Aristotle: “Excellence is an art won through training and habituation. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

The program also included information regarding which staff members organized the event. Of course, Principal Vaca, as well as Vice Principals Maritza Casanova and Ezequiel Ruiz. The Coordinators were Counselors Elsie Lazar, Shauna Solari, and Lesley Fantazia, along with Registrar Anita Calderon.

Vaca pointed out for the audience how the awardee students were allowed to choose the district employee who would present their award, including not only teachers and administrators, but also classified members.

As the evening concluded, Vaca jokingly announced that it only took an hour and a half to make the 139 presentations.