At Senior Awards Night on May 20, hundreds of members of the graduating class of 2026 were presented with accolades and scholarships. The event was held in the main gym, and many parents attended to support their students.
Also in attendance were MUSD Board members, principals and assistant principals, Superintendent Cheryl Jordan, other district officials, and various scholarship donors, who were seated at tables towards the front of the gym. District and school officials alternated reading the names of students, with a large projection at the front of the gym also listing their name and their achievements.
Some students received gold cords and stoles for Summa Cum Laude, earned by maintaining a weighted GPA of 4.0 or higher throughout high school, while others received gold cords for Magna Cum Laude, earned by maintaining a minimum weighted GPA of 3.5. Blue-and-gold cords were also distributed to students who received the State Seal of Biliteracy, which is earned by taking a test demonstrating proficiency in a foreign language. The Maroon Cord was given to those who earned 150 or more community service hours. Pins were also given to recipients of the President’s Award for Academic Excellence, earned by scoring “Standard Exceeded” on all SBAC tests as well as maintaining a minimum GPA of 3.5.
In addition to these, official stoles from the National Honor Society, plaques and statuettes from the International Thespian Society, and a wide array of scholarships ranging from $500 to $200,000 were granted to select students. Finally, towards the end of the ceremony, the class salutatorian, senior Amanda Lai, and valedictorian, senior Crystal Huang, were announced.
Senior Crystal Huang isn’t the first MHS valedictorian in her family, as her older brother earned the title back in his senior year, Huang said.
“At this school, at least, a valedictorian has to have one of the highest GPAs, and by definition—though I don’t know if they took this into account—they have to be excelling in leadership in some sort of way,” Huang said.
She both has and hasn’t been working towards this goal throughout high school, Huang said.
“The most important thing to become valedictorian is your grades, and (since I) worked as hard as (I could) to get those grades up, then I guess you could say I was working towards valedictorian,” Huang said. “But it also wasn’t solely for valedictorian. There’s just a lot of other factors.”
Throughout high school, she found it important to set rules and goals for herself, Huang said.
“Grades-wise, I just wanted to do my best to maintain an A all the way through high school,” Huang said. “If I can’t do it, I can’t do it.”
Though she expected to be informed of her valedictorian status back in April like her brother had been, she was only contacted on May 15, which doesn’t leave her a lot of time to work on her speech, Huang said.
“I thought it wasn’t going to be me,” Huang said. “So I was like, ‘I don’t know about that speech.’ My number one fear is public speaking.”
After high school, she plans to pursue her interest in biology on a pre-med track at UC Los Angeles, Huang said.
“I’m not that interested in (biology) research; it’s just going to be be a lot of numbers,” Huang said. It’s gonna be a lot of data and reports, and it doesn’t really attract me at all. The pre-med path is a lot longer, and I’m a lot more interested in being a doctor. Who doesn’t want that salary?”
Senior Kirsten Allen received the $3,000 Jordan Family Scholarship, the $,1000 Milpitas Teacher’s Association Scholarship, and the $500 MHS PTSA Scholarship, and she hopes it will cover some of her expenses at San Jose State University next year, Allen said.
“I had to write essays on my life and what inspired me to take the career path I wanted to take,” Allen said.
The feedback from the essay readers was very positive, Allen added.
“They said that—even though they’d never met me—my story was very touching, and it felt like they’d known me forever,” Allen said.
She is a first-generation student from a low-income background, Allen added.
“For my family, this means a better chance at life, and I feel like it fulfills the efforts that my mom made,” Allen said.
Senior Alisa Chan earned virtually every award offered by the school—National Honor Society, Summa Cum Laude, the Maroon Cord, the President’s Award for Academic Excellence, and two State Seals of Biliteracy, Chan said.
“I took the State Seal of Biliteracy (tests) in my junior and senior years,” Chan said. “I took one for Mandarin, and I took one for Cantonese.”
Out of all her accolades, she thinks the State Seal of Biliteracy for Cantonese was the most difficult to earn, Chan said.
“I actually had to practice and study for it,” Chan said.
Additionally, her Maroon Cord represents over 500 hours of community service, Chan said.
“I volunteered at a hospital, and over four years, I also went to the community trash cleanups at the park,” Chan said.
After high school, she’ll be studying biology on a pre-med track at UC San Diego, Chan said.
“I’m looking forward to going from a Maroon Cord to having a lot of clinical hours and a lot more volunteer hours overall,” Chan said.
The awards mean a great deal to her, as they were the culmination of her hard work over the years, Chan said.
“When I was up there on stage getting all those awards, it made me feel really proud of my accomplishments,” Chan said. “After all, it defines—to some extent—who I am. And my family is also very proud of me for winning those awards.”
