May Park fifth-graders honored at end-of-year awards; Sebastian Rodriguez receives Presidential Award for Educational Excellence

Principal Christina Gilles opened a fifth-grade awards night at May Park Elementary School, welcoming families and staff and introducing awards across music, physical education, clubs and academics.

"Good evening, May Park families. My name is Christina Gilles. I'm the principal here at May Park and I'm excited to have you here this evening. Welcome to our fifth grade awards night," Principal Christina Gilles said.

The event recognized students in multiple categories: music (band and orchestra), PE, art, library and office helpers, student council officers, LEGO and computer/innovation awards, club participation (Nature Nerds, Panther Players) and attendance and growth recognitions. Teachers announced winners by category throughout the evening; among the named students listed in the program were winners such as Emilio Rodriguez (best school musician), Michelle Cabrera (perfect attendance and Golden Panther recognition), and a range of students honored for club participation and leadership.

Teacher Miss Williams presented the Presidential Award for Educational Excellence to Sebastian Rodriguez, describing him as a multilingual reader and strong student across subjects. "This student exemplifies academic achievement, character, integrity, and curiosity," Miss Williams said, and she noted academic percentile scores cited in her remarks: the student "writes in the 95 percentile for math and the 75 percentile for reading." The teacher also described the recipient's sustained classroom engagement and growth over several years.

Organizers said one student in the fifth-grade received a perfect-attendance award for the 2024–25 school year; teachers announced Michelle Cabrera as that recipient. The program also included recognition for students who participated in pull-out instrument lessons with Mr. Cannon (band) and weekly district group lessons, and for orchestra students who worked with Mr. Smith.

Staff told families the slide presentation shown during the ceremony would be posted to the classroom platform Seesaw by the following day for families who wanted to view photos or the program again. After presentations and pictures, staff invited parents to come forward for group photos of the class.

No formal school- or district-level policy actions, votes, or budget decisions were made at the event; the evening was a celebratory program to acknowledge student achievements and to share classroom- and club-level recognitions with families.