It wasn’t your conventional assembly on April 22. Instead of filling the auditorium, sophomores gathered in Café lab for the annual Unsung Heroes brunch — a celebration for faculty and staff that go above and beyond behind the scenes.
Recipients of the Unsung Heroes Award are:
Brian Arceneaux
Susan Augustine
Tony Baker
Camille Baughn-Cunningham
Isaac Berrueta
Ana Campos
Tyjuan Edwards
Anthony Hunter
Mary-Luz Toledo
Sam Ntone
Lavon Robinson
Shirley Volk
Ariel Williams
ARI NOVAK: A few weeks prior, every sophomore advisory nominated a member of the faculty or staff they felt deserved recognition. At the brunch, two students from each advisory gave a speech about their nominee. One of these nominees was school librarian Shirley Volk.
SHIRLEY VOLK: We work really hard with Ms. Marco as well to make the library a welcoming, comforting place, but also do other things like be advisors and connect with the students one-on-one, and things like that. So it’s always nice to be recognized.
C.C. BERNSTEIN: Ms. Volk is always there to be help. We always feel like we can approach her and we feel like a lot of the work she does doesn’t really get acknowledged because it feels like day-to-day stuff even though we really couldn’t do it without her.
ARI NOVAK: The student speeches expressed their gratitude for staff and faculty members, noting small actions that often go unnoticed but can be all the difference. Sophomore Zoe Cobb appreciates the ways counselor Camille Baughn-Cunningham supports students on a day-to-day basis.
ZOE COBB: She is one of the greatest people I know, let alone one of the greatest people in this building. I’ve always felt so supported by her, and I met with her for the first time at the beginning of my freshman year, and I’ve only continued to get to know her more throughout my journey at U-High. She just has the most infectious energy, and whenever I leave her office, I just feel so much better than I did going in.
ARI NOVAK: For the nominees, this assembly was well-deserved recognition, but for librarian Susan Augustine, interacting with students is recognition enough.
SUSAN AUGUSTINE: I just really like my day-to-day life at Lab. I like the connections and relationships I have with students. Even though there’s no recognition, I think there’s satisfaction enough in that.
C.C. BERNSTEIN: We got to see, sort of like, the variety of such wonderful things people in our community do. Personally, I didn’t know all the people who were nominated, and it was really nice to see and hear stories about all the amazing things they do around the school to help.
