Westwood Students Receive St. Michaels Book Award

Two students at have been honored with an annual book award from St. Michael's College in Vermont. 

Westwood High School juniors Jonathan Harper and MaryKate Norton were granted the 2011 Saint Michael's Book Award for Academic Achievement with a Social Conscience.

The award goes to students who demonstrate a commitment to leadership in volunteer service, as well as academic achievements.

"We give two awards to something like 900 schools across the country, to a young man and a young woman," said Buff Lindau, a spokesperson for St. Michael's College. "We would require that it be a student who is either on the National Honors Society or the equivalent."

The book that was awarded to Harper and Norton was "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers," by 1993 St. Michael's graduate Loung Ung. 

The book details Ung's experiences of surviving captivity during the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. 

"It's very readable and very powerful, as a personal account of what happened to her," Lindau said. "She came here as a pre-teen adolescent girl who went to high school in Vermont and then to St. Michael's. She's a good writer, and she's got an incredible story."

High School Principal and Emily Parks said the school gives out a number of junior book awards each year that are sponsored by various colleges at the school's National Honors Society ceremony. 

"The recipients are selected by a committee of teachers based on the criteria established by the school and forwarded to me to present," Parks said. "Though we sometimes get new awards, I know that we've given out St. Michael's in the past."

Harper said he was honored to receive the award and that his experiences have been highly rewarding.

"It's nice to be recognized for my hard work at school and my community service experiences," Harper said. "I have been a volunteer for the past two summers at Camp Hope Illinois. While there, I am paired with one special needs young adult and spend one week interacting with them through sports, swimming, arts and crafts, etc."

Harper said he's been able to take his experience back with him to Westwood High School, where he has been involved in the Best Buddies Friendship Club since his freshman year. He plans to return to the camp again this summer.