by Brandon Su, Staff Writer
During the first move-up assembly held May 5th, on the football field, the winners of the Golden Apple and Golden Lion awards were announced. Physics teacher, Mr. O, won the Golden Apple award over the other 22 nominees, while football coach and security guard, Coach Nick was honored with the Golden Lion award over 12 other staff.
This prestigious award has been a long-standing Galileo tradition. The process behind the whole thing is pretty simple though. Students are asked to nominate a teacher or staff member that they think is deserving of this award, then, whoever gets more than 10 nominations are put onto the voting list to be voted for. This year, over 700 students filled out the form, which is a significant percentage of the students at Galileo.
Winners of this prestigious award were given a plaque, a medallion, and a new Galileo hoodie.
When asking Mr. O about how he felt about winning this award, his response was that he felt both conflicted and honored at the same time, saying, “I understand why students would vote for me as I do try to go to all events and clubs. My room is always open and I tutor and try to have a presence at this school.”
When asked about the reason he felt conflicted, he simply stated, “Because as a new teacher, I know that I’m not where I should be, and can get better at what I do in the classroom. I have very high standards for myself and want to become a better teacher.” He closed it off by saying that “If students feel that way about me, I feel honored, and I thank them for voting for me.”
Coach Nick didn’t care as much about the award but more about what it represented. He said, “It’s cool. From what I understand it was given to me based on what the students felt. Whatever the award means is irrelevant, it’s only valuable because students chose it for me.”
