What is the President's Award of Academic Excellence? It is a surprise gift award given to the scholar who places in the top 10 in the entire school by the President, Atty Romeo J Somera, Esq.. It is the most prestigious award given to a scholar by SAS Ai. And rightfully so. With this award, the President is saying to the entire SAS Ai scholar community, "Be the best that you can be. Do not settle for being average and above all else, do your duty and that is to excel in academics and in your scholarly endeavors."

How many Presidential awards are there? There are three such awards. First goes to the scholar in the top 10 who has the highest score. Second goes to the scholar in the top 10 who has the next highest score. Third goes to the scholar in the top 10 who has the third highest score.

This is quite a challenge. To some it may prove unachievable. To some it may prove to be unfair - why the senior high school student has harder subjects than the freshman? To some it may prove to promote competition amongst the scholars themselves. Still to some it may be that the number of awards is not enough and therefore should be increased to however many scholars make it to the top 10.

Taken one at a time, these arguments, though they may be valid, are based on personal preferences and not focused on the significance and purpose of the award. The Presidential Award for Academic Excellence is just that. To attain it and to achieve it, the scholar must prove deserving. Anything less would diminish the meaning and the very definition of the award and the work that has to be expended to achieve it.