Honors and Awards Criteria

To be considered for an academic award (Academic Letter, Bar, Lamp of Learning) students must meet all of the following criteria for an entire academic year:

a. Students must take the equivalent of six (6) semester classes at Sahuaro each semester in residence at Sahuaro.

b. Transfer students who do not receive both sets of first semester and second semester grades from Sahuaro are not eligible.

c. The student must maintain a grade point average of 3.8 or higher for the academic year under consideration. Grade point averages are computed based upon semester grades. An academic year does not include summer school grades, correspondence grades, or online classes.

d. Advanced Placement grades are weighted for grade calculation. (A=5.0 points on a 4.0 scale, B=4.0 points on a 4.0 scale)

e. Students who are in religious seminary must also receive credit in six (6 other) classes at Sahuaro.

f. Special education students are eligible if CORE is the only class in which they are enrolled that is coded as exceptional education, and they meet all other criteria.

g. To be eligible to receive academic recognition at Sahuaro, all classes must be taken for a letter grade (A, B, etc.). Pass/Fail does not qualify for this honor.

1st Exception: Aides receive pass/fail grading and will be considered

2nd EXCEPTION: If the student’s counselor places a student in PE or a student aide class (as a temporary measure due to unforeseen circumstances) for which the student will only receive a pass/fail grade, the student may remain eligible for academic awards, so long as the temporary placement does not exceed the equivalent of a quarter class.

3rd EXCEPTION: Students taking seven (7) classes may receive credit for both PE and an office aide assignment in the same academic year.

SENIOR RULE: seniors may qualify for an award based upon having met the qualifications for the first semester of his or her senior year. (This applies to Spring Honors Night only)

Academic Awards

• An Academic Letter is given for the first event of achieving a 3.8 GPA for the previous year or for the first semester of a senior year while carrying six classes.
  
  
• Bars are given to students who met the criteria for a second and third time.
  
  

• Lamp of Learning is given to students repeating this high level of academic performance for a fourth time, in the spring of their senior year after carrying six classes during the fall of their senior year.