The Burwen Education Foundation invited ten seniors with he highest academic grade point average to an annual dinner to elect the recipient of the Principal’s Distinguished Student Award. This year’s recipient was Leah Lam.

The senior nominees’ names are as follows: Lucy Cheskin, Tyler DeMassa, Andrea Estrada, Jivan Gubbi, Amanda Koong, Leah Lam, Clarissa Pham, Varun Rohatgi, Bayley Tuch, and Albert Zhang.

Susan and David Burwen hosted the dinner at Don Giovanni’s Ristorante on May 16.

The dinner is an opportunity for the ten nominated seniors to share about themselves, their accomplishments, and their future ambitions.

“It’s one of the highlights of my year,” Assistant Principal Carmen Gomez said. “I get to hear the great things that they’ve done and they’re planning on doing.”

In addition to discussing their own futures, the seniors reflected upon their past four years.

“We discussed MVHS’ strengths and offered ideas for improvement such as closing the divide between regular and AP classes, and stress relief methods,” nominee Tyler DeMassa said.The Burwens have long been supporters of MVHS scholars. Their foundation provided mentorship and full scholarships to AVID students for 14 years.

“I find the Burwens to be a fascinating couple,” said Principal David Grissom. “To hear their story, to hear about the goodness of the human soul — there’s so much goodness in them.”

The Burwens’ created the award as a means of recognizing top academic achieving students who are also exemplary role models in service, athletics, clubs, and inspiring others to lead. The award itself is a non-monetary recognition and a plaque.

The seniors at the dinner were asked to cast a vote of the top three seniors among them that they believed deserved to receive the award.