Logan Celebrates Achievements of Seniors at Honors Convocation

James Logan High School honored the achievements of this year’s graduating class at its annual Honors Convocation on Thursday.

Each of the 233 students who earned awards, scholarships and recognition for membership in the California Scholarship Federation (CSF), were congratulated for their hard work throughout their four years of high school.

The evening began in the Guy Emanuele Pavilion with a greeting from Logan’s House 1 counselor Regina Irvin, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, led by this year’s Senior Class President Clifford Hoang.

Irvin then introduced a number of dignitaries and guests, including Logan principals and counselors, New Haven Unified School District board members and other officials.

NHUSD Superintendent Keri McVeigh then took the stand to acknowledge the perseverance and determination of the night's honorees. She reminded parents of their part in ensuring their students' success and thanked them for entrusting the district with the care of their children.

Logan Principal Amy McNamara then called each student up individually to present them with their awards, both academic and athletic.

Those who will graduate summa cum laude, by earning at least a 4.0 weighted grade point average throughout their years at Logan, were also recognized. Students formerly received a pen and plaque for this award; however, recipients this year instead received something a little more useful — USB drives.

McNamara then announced the valedictorian and salutatorian of the 2011 graduating class.

This year’s valedictorian is Allen Li. Li received the President’s Award, the Principal’s Award and a department award for Language Arts. He is also a CSF 100% member and is attending Amherst College in Massachusetts this fall.

The Class of 2011 salutatorian is Fiona Yuan. Yuan also received the President’s Award and the Principal’s Award. In addition, she earned the UC Management Leadership Scholarship and the SBCC Scholarship Award. She is a CSF Lifetime Member and is attending UC Berkeley in the fall.

Yuan said of becoming salutatorian, “I think it's really an honor, actually. I mean, I was chosen, along with the valedictorian, out of more than 900 students in our class—this especially when there are tons of people I know who have put in the same amount of effort as I have towards school and other activities."

She also said she is a little nervous about speaking at graduation on June  18, but added, "I want to be able to give a speech that everyone can relate to even if just for a moment."

Following the announcement of valedictorian and salutatorian, McNamara announced the finalists for this year’s Seoane-James Memorial Award.

The award is given to the most outstanding male and female senior on the basis of overall high school achievements, in honor of two seniors from Logan’s first graduating class who died in separate car crashes. Students can be nominated by anyone and nominees are screened before being selected as a finalist.

Superintendent McVeigh will announce the winners at graduation.

“To whoever the teacher was, I would like to say thank you, because I’m not sure who nominated me but it feels nice to have been nominated,” said Nandini Narayan, a finalist for the Seaone-James Award.  “I guess it just feels nice to have been thanked for doing all hard work. I think the award is just the school saying 'thank you' to you.”

Narayan also received the President’s Award and is attending Seattle Pacific University in the fall as a pre-medicine major.

Editor's Note: Patch contributor Beatrice Esteban, a senior at Logan, also received an award during Thursday's convocation.