Every year at this time commencement is just around the corner, which means events celebrating the academic and athletic achievements of Northwood students. This special time has always begun with a Co-Curricular Awards Banquet, the opportunity to recognize the outstanding athletic achievements for each co-curricular sport. However, with this year ending very differently and suddenly compared to every other year since the opening of Northwood, students were sent home early and classes are currently taking place online, the faculty community has worked hard to ensure that all co-curricular achievements are still recognized.
Under normal circumstances, the entire Northwood community would get ready for the Co-Curricular Awards Banquet, a formal dinner followed by the co-curricular awards presentation. This is where the students are identified for their accomplishments surrounded by their friends, teammates, all other coaches, and the rest of the community. One member from each activity is selected by the faculty to receive the award on this night, sometimes making it very challenging for the coaches. However, for all co-curricular activities in the 2019-2020 season and all the student-athletes to be recognized received their award differently. Jaden Klebba ‘21 winner of the Alpine Skiing Girls award talked about how she felt; she said, “I was definitely caught by surprise when I heard my name in the video, I expected it to be one of my teammates. I personally believe any girl on my team could have won but it definitely made me feel good about myself, especially after a season that wasn’t quite as rewarding as I had wished”. Another award winner, Daniel Colabufo ‘20, winner of Junior Boys Hockey award, said “It was an honor and I appreciate the kind words Coach Cassidy said about me. It was not the same experience as in-person but given the circumstances, I thought the ceremony was really good.”
It was definitely a different style of an award presentation, but Northwood made sure to do their best and Klebba reflected upon it, “part of me wishes that the award ceremony could have happened in person but I know that there are much bigger things that everyone is missing out on right now, besides I wouldn’t have known how to act”.
All coaching staff got together on a video call from their own homes to announce their chosen winners, which were announced publicly on Wednesday 6th May 2020. The video was released to allow all students a part of the Northwood community to see the appointed award winners in their specific sport and many congratulation messages were sent all over the world.
2019-2020 Co-Curricular Awards from Northwood School on Vimeo.
