Seniors gathered to celebrate their many achievements at Seniors Awards Night on Wednesday night. The school also honored 14 juniors for their outstanding abilities in various subject areas. 

The night started with the Menlo-Atherton Awards, which are chosen by M-A faculty and departments. First came awards for students in AVID, with senior Yandel Hernandez Nunez winning the Spirit of AVID Scholarship for embodying what it means to be in AVID by being hardworking and committed to continue his education. 

Next, the Computer Academy gave 11 scholarships to students going to a four-year college and four scholarships to students going to a two-year college. 

M-A also recognized students with the Faculty Departmental Awards for Academic Excellence, which ranged from art to science. One of the students who won was senior Luis Licea Fuerte for his achievements in English as a Second Language.

“It really means a lot to me because I’ve been working hard for this award and I started learning English four years ago, as a freshman. Since then, I’ve been trying hard to keep up and start to stay strong in the language and keep learning more,” Licea Fuerte said. He also won five other awards throughout the night.

One of the awards given was the Rick Longyear Enthusiast Award, which honored a student who embodied the late M-A science teacher and water polo coach Rick Longyear. The award was given to senior Lucas Selvik for his love and dedication to science and math.

“My family are always so supportive, whether in terms of academics or athletics, they gave me the support I needed to really give everything my all,” Selvik said.

The next section of awards was the Community Awards and Scholarships, which started with the 49ers Cal-Hi Sports CCS Scholar-Athlete of the Year. This honor was given to senior Trevor Cadigan for impressive work as a student athlete.

M-A also honored 16 seniors with the California Scholarship Federation Life Members for being part of the California Scholarship Federation for four semesters from sophomore to senior year, and 23 seniors for being California Scholarship Federation 100% Members by being part of the Federation for all six eligible semesters.

While dozens of seniors were honored as National Merit Commended Students for their excellent scores of the PSATs, M-A also had 15 seniors achieve National Merit Finalist status through their scores and essays they wrote for the competition. In addition, seniors Lilah Chen and Celine Chien* were awarded National Merit Scholarships based on their outstanding performance in the nationwide competition.

To end the night, seniors Mattea Harris, Haniyah Knight, Nevaeh Knight, and Tatiola Sobomehin* were given Ubuntu Scholarships. The scholarships are given to Black students who embody Ubuntu, or the idea that “I am because we are.”

“There were so many amazing awards and so many amazing students and I think that all our hard work really reflects tonight. It’s truly a privilege to be able to recognize all of these amazing students,” senior Corbin Nam, who received a Faculty Departmental award in mathematics, said.

“Everyone was being very supportive and clapping after all the awards, even for people that we didn’t know, we were still clapping. It just felt like a positive uplifting community,” senior Josh Pfistner, who won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award, said.

*Celine Chien and Tatiola Sobomehin are journalists for the M-A Chronicle.

The House v. NCAA settlement, announced Friday night, officially marks the end of the college sports landscape that we all love and know and the beginning of a dark future for non-Power Four conference schools.

The settlement does nothing but allow the Power Four conferences to expand their powers and silence the voices of the Group of Five schools.

The main subject of the settlement is an annual cap for universities to directly pay athletes for their name, image and likeness (NIL).

However, the kicker is that the amount is based on a percentage of a defined set of Power Four athletics department revenues, with not all colleges factored in.

This means that Bowling Green and other similar schools will have to continue dealing with bigger schools spending $20 million per year, which is over half of BGSU’s operating athletic budget. This will only allow the bigger schools to justify their spending, which will continue to make it harder for the majority of smaller schools to keep up and stay competitive.

The settlement does nothing but continue to widen the gap between the Power Four and non-Power Four schools.

In addition to being able to pay athletes directly, athletes will also be able to continue making NIL deals with entities other than their respective schools.

On the surface, this sounds fair. However, there’s another kicker.

A new entity will be assigned to watch over all of the non-university NIL agreements and make sure they do not violate any rules. However, the College Sports Commission is not an initiative by the NCAA but rather a collaboration among the Power Four conferences. In fact, the top figures in the organization who have the power to make the big decisions are ACC Commissioner Jim Philips, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti, Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.

All Division I athletes who have a deal with a non-university entity for $600 or more have to report to the College Sports Commission’s system called “NIL Go,” which will then be evaluated to determine whether the deal has a “valid business purpose” and is within “a reasonable range of compensation,” whatever those terms are eventually deemed to mean. The commission and commissioners will have full power to enforce their rules, whatever they end up being, and penalize rule-breakers.

Firstly, I’m not sure if it’s possible to make the details more vague if you tried. Secondly, do any of us trust the Power Four conferences and their commissioners not to take advantage of the landscape and find loopholes while limiting the power and abilities of non-Power Four schools — I do not.

I can almost guarantee that there will be more ensuing legal battles due to the recent settlement and that this is only the beginning of the college athletics landscape being altered forever. We have officially reached the point of no return. College sports are no longer college sports — they are now the minor leagues.

Ultimately, the settlement does nothing but continue to allow the Power Four conferences to expand their powers as we continue to head on a collision course toward a super conference, which will officially mark the death for non-Power Four schools.