On May 9th, 2017, students, teachers, parents, and members of the Shawnee administration gathered once more in the Shawnee High School auditorium for the 10th annual People’s Choice Awards. As awards were given out to smiling Shawnee students by their beaming teachers at the ceremony, the room erupted into applause and congratulations.

The People’s Choice Awards is a ceremony that is sponsored by the Shawnee Renaissance Club, and is the counterpart to the Crystal Apple Awards, another Renaissance Club sponsored ceremony held at Shawnee that recently celebrated it’s own 10th anniversary (We covered that event earlier this year, and the Medford Sun featured our article on its website. You can view our article here). In fact, you might consider the People’s Choice Awards to be the reverse of the Crystal Apples: whereas the Crystal Apples honored teachers that were nominated for the award by students, the People’s Choice honors students that have been nominated by their teachers.

As a whole, the People’s Choice Awards is an opportunity for Shawnee staff members “to recognize a student, not necessarily the person with the highest average, the most athletic [person], or the person involved in the most clubs, but rather someone who has with them their manners, determination, a willingness to help others, dedication, or maybe they just make you smile every day,” explained Mrs. Christine Musick, one of the Shawnee teachers that nominated a student for the award this year. Mrs. Musick nominated Shawnee junior Aidan Khelil, a student in one of her pre-calculus classes.

The students that are nominated for the award are students that teachers believe exude “determination, dedication, a nice disposition,” or who are just “really nice individuals,” said Mrs. Musick. When asked why she decided to nominate Aidan for the award, she cheerfully explained, “I nominated Aidan Khelil because he does make me smile every day… Aidan always seems upbeat and positive and I certainly appreciate that quality in a person!”

According Mrs. Musick, her favorite part of the People’s Choice is that “students do not know who nominated them or even why they were nominated. I enjoy seeing the surprise, joy, and happiness when they realize it was me who nominated them. I also enjoy meeting their families afterwards.”