As the school year comes to an end several individual students, programs and club organizations have earned significant recognitions among the student body.

Every year, through the Hamilton Scholar program, 35 to 40 students from around the United States are selected to be a part of a five-year leadership academy. The Hamilton program helps students get accepted into colleges and gives them a better transition into college and more opportunities when they are transitioning to careers through internships.

This year, junior Dan Tam “Tammy” Nguyen was selected to be a part of the Hamilton Academy Scholar Program. Nguyen credited College and Career counselor Sarah Simmons with helping her earn participation in the program.

“Ms.Simmons recommended for me to apply for the scholarship, she also helped guide me throughout the application process,” she said. “The first round was completing the application then the second round was whenever they narrow it down from over 2,000 student applications to 70 applications and that’s over a phone interview. After that interview they narrow it down to 40 students which is the final round.”

The Health Occupation Student of America (HOSA) is a national organization that allows students to compete in different fields of health care. In January, four Health Occupations Students of America competed in the HOSA State Championships in Galveston. Only the top three teams automatically qualify for nationals. Out of the four HOSA students only one team from Akins qualified to go to nationals.

Seniors Shelby Long and Valeria Herrera were the first duo to compete and placed second at the State championships. Rosario Casanova and Julisa Bosquez also competed as a duo, placing fourth at the State Championships.

“My partner, Valeria and I are an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) team and we are really excited to be going on to nationals and show the nation that Akins has a great program,” Long said.

The HOSA Nationals Championships will be held at Nashville, Tennessee in June.

This year was the first time Akins speech team competed in the National Individual Event Tournament of Championship at Denver, Colorado. Junior Ethan Cannon and senior Joshua Solis competed as a duo and won third place.

“Joshua and I acted out ‘Dark Play’ by Carlos Murillo and when we found out we placed third at nationals, we felt amazing,” Cannon said.

Senior Tyra Williams also competed at nationals performing  “Da Kink in My Hair” by Trey Anthony, placing fourth.

“I would say that I worked for a solid two years, because I made it to finals at state last year, and this year I made it to semifinals this year which made me qualify for nationals,” Williams said.

The Legal Eagles program also received recognition when the Austin Bar Association was named the 2016 Partnership Award by the State Bar of Texas.