LANCASTER – The AV Fair & Event Center in partnership with the Antelope Valley Union High School District will host the 21st annual 4.0 Student Recognition Celebration during the California Poppy Festival at the AV Fair & Event Center on Saturday, April 23.
The long-standing event honors high school students who’ve maintained a 4.0 or higher grade point average throughout their high school career. A total of 760 local high school seniors graduating with a cumulative GPA of 4.0 or higher will be recognized for their academic achievements from 13 local high schools, including: Antelope Valley High School, Desert Christian School, Eastside High School, Highland High School, Lancaster High School, Littlerock High School, Palmdale High School, Paraclete High School, William J. Pete Knight High School, Quartz Hill High School, SOAR High School, The Palmdale Aerospace Academy, and Academies of the Antelope Valley.
This year’s 4.0 Student Recognition Celebration has been extended to include a closed dignitary California Poppy Festival, pre-event evening, where the 4.0 students will have the opportunity to experience select carnival rides and food. The local 4.0 students and their guests also will be honored at the Rural Olympics arena event starting at 12 p.m. Saturday, April 23, in the Grandstand Arena. The final 4.0 Student Recognition Celebration will take place at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 23, at the Cantina Stage.
“It is an honor to celebrate these students, their teachers, parents, and mentors who have worked so hard during the past several years. This year is a different celebration, as we’ve embedded this program in with the California Poppy Festival,” said Drew Mercy, President of the AV Fair & Event Center Board of Directors. “These students deserve to be celebrated, and that’s what we’re going to do. This is a great program that is only made possible by a great community.”
Monetary scholarship amounts start at $250, with the highest monetary scholarship totaling $2,000. A total of $18,000 in cash scholarships will be awarded to students whose names are randomly drawn. Students must be present to be entered into the scholarship drawing, and 100% of each scholarship will be given to the student’s name drawn.
In addition to the monetary scholarship winners being announced, as is tradition, the University of Antelope Valley will be providing a full ride scholarship, valued at $60,000. Additional contributors include the AV Fair & Event Center, Friends of the Fair, Adelman Broadcasting, AV EDGE, AV Chevrolet, AVTA, California Compaction Corporation, Desert Christian School, Donna Giddens, Ron & Yvette Emard, AV Harley Davidson, High Desert Medical Group, IBEW-NECA, Judy Hutton, Lamar Outdoor Advertising, LookUp Communications, REMAX All Pro, Toyota of Lancaster, and Waste Management.
[Information via news release from the AV Fair & Event Center.]
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Aubray McPherson says
This is highly in appropriate! The event shown in these photos is not the original Antelope Valley Student Recognition 4.0 Dinner and should be removed immediately. These photos belong to my organization when we held this event at the AV Fairgrounds. We separated ourselves from this center due to concerns over misappropriation of funds and management. Our organization has set the “actual” 4.0 dinner off to the side due to the pandemic and a lack of venue to support such the large body of deserving students who should qualify for this program. It is extremely disheartening to see the AV Times commit such gross negligence. As stated in my email to the Editor, photos from the AV Fairgrounds 4.0 Celebration should only be shared. This celebration was started by the AV Fairground in 2016. Though my official stance is that students should participate in ALL OPPORTUNITIES possible when it comes to scholarship opportunities it is ALSO my stance that our community members are given a TRUE AND ACCURATE account that led to my organizations separation from the AV Fairgrounds and why the photos displayed in this article should ABSOLUTELY BE REMOVED as they do not depict the AV FAIRGROUNDS actual event and create (as seen above in the statement from “FWB” harm to the ACTUAL- Antelope Valley Student Recognition Program 4.0 Dinner!!!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Aubray McPherson
Aubray McPherson says
Correction: This is highly in appropriate! The event shown in these photos is “belong to” the original Antelope Valley Student Recognition 4.0 Dinner and should be removed immediately from their association to the AV Fair 4.0 Celebration”……
FWB says
4.0 student recognition is racist