And the Award goes to...

It was just another usual day in fifth grade, wake up, go to play on the playground for half an hour, and then class.  Midway through, we have our lunch break, which was only about thirty minutes.  The lunchroom was a gym, auditorium, and a place to eat.  To a elementary school student, it seemed humongous with a cargo net in the back, and twenty-four wooden tables that extend from the wall.  I bought my lunch as usual, and sat down with my friends and classmates.  It was a small group of twenty-five or so students.  Then something out of the ordinary happened.  The principal, my fifth grade teacher, as well as other teachers were up at the foot of the stage.

They had an announcement to make to the class.  There was an award for "The Most Improved Student," which was for someone in the lunchroom.  The teacher slowly narrowed it down until it was only the twenty-five students in my class.  One of the kids, being the most popular, was expected to be the winner, with him seemingly being the obvious choice, and all twenty-four of the other students, even me, thought it was him.  My teacher narrowed it down to a boy, so now everyone was certain it had to be the popular kid.  The teacher said my name, which was a shock to most, even me, and I was astonished.  I would have never imagined that I was the most improved, and yet, it was me.  My classmates gave me the applause, and I was thrilled.  It was basically the first major award I remember.

So after I happily finished my lunch, I went back to class and my teacher told me what the award consisted of.  He also told me that he and my fourth grade teacher talked about how I got the award this year, and my fourth grade teacher was a little bit jealous.  To get my award, I was a going to a lunch banquet with my parents, teacher, principal, and the person who gave out the award.  He is part of the Rotary Club and also the manager of the bank in town.  They gave me a fifty dollar check, the award, and a free lunch!  It was also put in the local newspaper, and everything was very professional.

It was one of the most memorable school lunches that I have had, with me unexpectedly being the winner of an award, and also getting some money out of it.  I was astonished, and my classmates patted me on my back, and congratulated me.  This basically initiated my pursuit for academic success, which really picked up during seventh grade where I went from being an average B student, to an average A student.  After seventh grade, I continued to do well in school, and I think that that one lunch really made a difference for me.  It was the last push up the hill to have the ball start rolling down the path of academic success.