\uFEFFMARK WAITE / PVTStudents who received academic letters for a grade point average of 4.0 or above ham it up for the camera at the senior awards ceremony at the Pahrump Valley High School gym Wednesday night. Advertisement

Pahrump Valley High School seniors received awards, scholarships, and honors before an audience of 500 people in the school's gymnasium for the 2009 Senior Awards Night Wednesday.

"Welcome to the greatest show in Pahrump," Max Buffi, the first-year principal at PVHS, said at the beginning of the event. Following the welcoming speech, the ceremony began with the announcement of scholarship winners.

Among the scholarship winners were Maria Melgar, 18, who accumulated an estimated $48,000 in scholarships and awards for the first year of college, plus free tuition at the University of Chicago, a $39,000 value annually. Melgar is also this year's salutatorian.

"It's been a lot of sacrifice," Melgar said. Melgar plans to study economics and political science.

Samantha Sposato, 17, was also a high scholarship recipient, with as much as $20,000 in scholarships and awards. Sposato is this year's valedictorian and will be attending the UNR, in the fall.

"My philosophy is, if you have to be at school everyday then make the best of it," Sposato said. "I didn't actively seek to be valedictorian."

"I'm very proud of my class," said Connor Chenevert, 18, another high scholarship winner. "It (the amount of money given) just shows how far we've come."

Chenevert is a recipient of the U.S. Air Force ROTC scholarship and will be attending the University of New Mexico, where he plans to major in history with a minor in either anthropology or sociology.

The amount of scholarship and award money given to students at the ceremony was estimated at as much as $1.1 million, Buffi said.

Following the scholarships, academic medals were given to those students the teachers felt showed excellence in their classes.

Students received academic letters for grade point average of 3.5 to 3.9. Academic letters for this division are given to those students who maintained this GPA for the first three quarters of the school year and had no unexcused absences.

Following the handing out of honors sashes, Robert Williams handed out the National Honor Society cords. The criteria is to have a 3.5 grade point average for all four years, be selected by a teacher selection committee for leadership, complete a minimum of four service hours per month and show general character.

Those given National Honor Society cords include in alphabetical order: De'Ken Banks, Chelsea Beckett, Connor Chenevert, Keri Conran, Adriana Franco-Garcia, Ashley Keller, Lauren Luna, Maria Melgar, Meghan Morales, Ashley Rencher, Amber Shields, Daniel Spradlin, Cassie Steele, Sarah Terhune, Vanessa Veloz, Tim Rivers, Samantha Sposato and Kristi Daffer.

A final acknowledgement was given to PVHS's foreign exchange students. This year, PVHS had 19 students from more than 13 different countries, the most the school has ever had. Those students also gave a shade tree to the school to be remembered.

"I will never forget any of you," Buffi said as the conclusion to the awards night began. "What a great class to share my first year as principal with."

This year is PVHS's largest graduating class with 262 graduating seniors. Buffi said 53 percent plan on attending a four-year college, 15 percent will go to a two-year community college, 15 percent will join the military, 11 percent will attend a trade school or apprentice program, 3 percent will join the workforce and 2 percent are undecided.