Principal Steven Ramsey hosted the Senior Awards show in the PAC last Wednesday. This show honors students who showed exemplary leadership and proficiency within their respective award categories, local scholarship recipients and future cadets at military schools. They also crowned the first annual Mr. and Mrs. Westlake honoring two students who embody the 2024 senior class. 

The first category was Academic Awards. These are awards honoring two students for each academic discipline. They are voted upon by the teachers in their respective category. In English, James Gibson and Eva Lyra won. Luca Jadric and Sawyer Tilson won for science. In social studies, Gina Caro and Dash Waters won. Sophia Tobias Soto and Anna Wayne won for World Languages. For Visual and Performing Arts, four seniors won, C.G. Yin, Charlie K. Cooper, Zuzu Davis and Charlotte Jefferson. Within Career and Technical Education, two seniors from mentorship won, Nina Kenyon and Vivian Stewart. 

“I was surprised when I heard that I won but I feel really honored and appreciated by my teachers,” said James Gibson.

Next the school honored local scholarships, given to students who applied for and won a scholarship. First the Kelly Anne Cambell Memorial Scholarship which was created in the honor of Kelly Anne Cambell who passed away from brain cancer in college. This was awarded to a student who showed a love for writing, Halley Cunningham. Additionally, Evan Davis won the Prince Memorial Scholarship, Emma Bullock won the Lloyd E Millman Scholarship.

A new scholarship was created this year in honor of Landon Bellm, who was a member of the class of 2025. Bellm passed away last year, and his parents created this scholarship to carry on his legacy and honor student athletes who shared the values their son held. Morgan Ortega and Ty Ingram-Eiser were the inaugural winners.

“We are family friends with the Bellm’s, and it’s amazing to see his legacy carried on through this,” senior Zack Newman said.

Some additional scholarships awarded were the Marha Shanne Reid Scholarship given to Fox Bergeron and Joshua Stevens. Alexandra Coulter, Dylan Wall and Zuzu Davis won the Westlake Rotary Club Scholarship. Lucy Dennis, Caroline Kerpec, Mathew Silva, Quinn Riley and Piper Luna Williamson took home the Toody Byrd Hugs and Kisses Scholarship named after legendary Westlake guidance counselor Toody Byrd. 

Eva Davis, Catherine Tu, and Anusha Godambe were awarded with the PTO service scholarship. Catherine Tu and Class president Nasser Roman won the Westlake Baccalaureate Scholarship. The last scholarship was the Roy Scholarship awarded to students attending school in Texas next year. Evan O’Neil won and is attending Texas A&M next year.

“I’m super excited that I ended up winning the scholarship, I am glad I applied,” O’Neil said.

The third segment of the morning was dedicated to honoring students who are attending military academy’s next year. Jack Kayser and Noah Ross will be attending West Point in New York, with Kayser playing football. Similarly, long snapper Jake Helms will be continuing his academic and athletic career at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. John Davidson will be attending the Naval Academy next year and was also awarded the local ROTC scholarship.

The final award of the ceremony was for Mr. and Mrs. Westlake. This award was voted on by the Westlake Senior class and was awarded to Jeffrey Chen and Tess Beathard.