Thursday night, I sat for two and a half hours. Silent. Listening to one person after another give speeches about people they barely know. A name followed each speech. Seventy-four times, this happened. As each award was presented, students sitting on the stage shared feelings of inadequacy and incompetence that grew with each passing award.

After sitting through the agonizing event known as the Senior Award Ceremony, a question was brought to mind. How is it that the girl who has cheated on everything from homework to AP and standardized tests managed to get five awards recognizing her “dedication to education?” In our sophomore year, this same girl convinced me that we were friends and guilted me into doing her homework for months because she was “too distraught over the death of a ‘friend’” to do her own homework. She preyed on me; she bullied me. She knew full well that I didn’t have any friends at the time and was emotionally vulnerable. But here is the real hypocrisy: both the administration and faculty have recently become aware that she has been cheating on everything for four years straight. Did they stop her? No. Did she suffer for it? No. Has she had a single repercussion for her actions? No. How is this acceptable? She is ranked number ten in the class and took that spot from a well deserving individual. Not to mention, the scholarship money, which she essentially stole from another well deserving student. She cheated again, and I can guarantee that it won’t be the last time.

While discussing the unjustifiable awards this girl received with a fellow student of mine, my friend remarked “The only kid last year to get a 4 on the AP bio test… wants to go on to the doctor/research tract [but] she was not… recognized for her accomplishments. So many kids work so hard but it's the kids that are ‘popular’ and that skimmed through high school that were recognized.” The girl who I spoke about previously basically stole money from this hard working and committed student.

Not all of the recipients were as deplorable as the aforementioned; in fact many awards were more than justified. One of the most authentic and deserving awards was given to a student who spent her entire high school career dedicated to learning foreign languages. She excelled in both German and Spanish and was well deserving of the Foreign Language Award. A student who has shown unbelievable devotion to history and government received three honors recognizing her for her accomplishments in that subject area. A student who raised enough money to pay for three people’s cleft palate surgeries definitely merited her award for a “special act of kindness”. These students, among others were rightfully honored, but many more students should have had that chance.

After the award ceremony, my grandmother called me and said, “At the end of the day, all these awards are just pieces of paper that can be blown away. What you have gained from these past four years is much more valuable than any piece of paper. You have found yourself. You have become the real you. Not the Tali who has to hide. The you that I'm more than proud to call my granddaughter.”

That is what high school is about. Not some award, which clearly doesn’t always have to make sense or be justified. Only eight days left of school, and then I will never again have to worry about comparing my accomplishments to those of others. It wasn’t until my grandmother called me that I realized that the people who didn’t receive the awards that they deserved, actually received something greater, knowledge. While the people who received the awards they didn’t deserve, lost the chance of ever realizing that their award means nothing if they didn’t do anything to earn it.

Education isn’t about competition…well it is, but it shouldn’t be. We should be fighting to learn as much as we can as people. But instead we’re fighting for rank. We’re fighting for the highest grade, believing that this is what we should earn respect for. Why do we believe that? Because that’s what we have been taught. True honor is earned not by being on top, but by being your top, the best you that you can be.