First published in the Oct. 28 print issue of the San Marino Tribune.
“Trustworthiness means I could give you the keys to the school and know that everything would be OK,” said Daryl Topalian, principal of Huntington Middle School. “That is how much we believe in you.”
Topalian was addressing 20 of his students who had assembled to receive Good Citizenship awards at a special breakfast that was held Oct. 20 in the school’s library. It was the second of 10 gatherings being hosted by Topalian and Assistant Principal Mary Hazlett to acknowledge students for character traits such as honesty, courtesy, responsibility and service inside the classroom.
Honorees are nominated by teachers and staff members and receive a breakfast as well as a popular swag bag that includes an HMS T-shirt and a license plate frame that declares the recipient one of “Huntington’s Best.”
Aidan Ramos “is kind to his peers,” according to his teacher, Penny Roberts.
Fan Wu “is helpful as a mentor and role model,” according to Sheila Doan. “In so many ways she is trustworthy.”
Mokhanter Singh “shows he really cares about others around him,” in the words of Robert Chacon, one of his teachers.
“This is really what it is all about,” said Topalian. “I feel it is very important that we continue to recognize young people for displaying these important character traits.”
Other recipients who demonstrated trustworthiness include Jaqs Hoglin, Adanna Azinge, Nga Huynh, Hannah Yung, Silas Fan, Aaron Rahardjo, Avery Littman, Tin Ma, Hali Glasse, Kyle Loh, Riley Trinh, Stuart Lin, Sofia Chung, Kaiel Crump, Colin Wildeman, Travis Aguirre and Henry Kang.
