On Thursday, May 1st, the official E.L. Wright Awards were rewarded to their respective students. Students gathered in the chapel along with parents to hear the good news. The E.L. Wright Awards honor students in the Upper School who have the highest grade point average in a specific class. Students are presented with a certificate with their name on it along with the class they won the award in. The head of each department presents the awards, announcing every class in the subject. Students can win multiple awards for AP classes, honors classes, and college prep courses. Senior Charlie Patel won two awards.
“I won the Yearbook award and the AP U.S. Government award. I put in a lot of hard work and dedication to my classes to win these,” Patel said. “I made sure to go to office hours and stay locked in during class, studying all the time.”
Patel feels a special connection with his Yearbook teacher, Ethan Pender, who is also the adviser for the Darlingtonian. Patel had only taken Yearbook his senior year, but he has felt a lasting impact.
“Pender kept me going a lot of the time. He made sure I was the best in Yearbookland,” Patel said.
Freshman Andrew Parsa also won a whopping four awards. He won two in math, one in history and one in science.
“I won the Algebra 2 honors, the Geometry honors, Ancient Roots honors, and physics honors awards,” Parsa said. “I study for all of my tests, turn in most of my homework on time, put effort into all of my work, and pay attention in class.”
A Parsa boy winning multiple awards is nothing new to the community. Andrew’s brother, junior Hayes Parsa, also won multiple awards at last years ceremony and won the award for Newsroom at this year’s ceremony. Their eldest brother Aiden Parsa (’24), previously won multiple awards too, while attending Darlington. Andrew was excited when he won.
“I felt happy to win the awards because I had something to show for the work I had put in all year,” Parsa said.
To see all of the winners, explore more here.