Recently, Gold Medallion students presented the research projects they have worked on long and hard. Students who presented in November and December had been working on the project since the beginning of second semester last year.

“Seeing all my hard work come together was super satisfying, I was super nervous at first to present but after a while I kind of got into the groove of the presentation… it was a good feeling,” said senior Kate Westberg, whose project was on forensic anthropology.

The Gold Medallion program allows students to graduate with an honors diploma, but it’s not easy. To do so, a student must complete 100 hours of community service, 40 hours of internship, complete portfolios of academic work for all four years of high school, take at least 8 Honors or AP classes, and maintain a 3.2 GPA.

“Really I think the coolest component [of the presentation] is they have to interview actual people in the world, in this field, who we call experts, because you can talk to your neighbor, and they might know a little bit about it, but these people, this is their life,” said Gold Medallion coordinator Lori Dameron.

Even though the Gold Medallion takes much more work than another diploma, the students worked hard to achieve the requirements.

“I saw it as a challenge, and not many people do it, so I [figured I] might as well try,” said senior Quinn Armstrong.