Story: Annabel Guilarte-Silva ’26; Photo: Amelia Claud ’26

Originally published in the March issue of Woodley Leaves, Maret's student newspaper. 

The Student Council brought the Take Care Award back to Upper School Convocation after it took a hiatus during the COVID period. The award aims to highlight students or faculty members who have “taken care of themselves, others, or the community (inside or outside of Maret) in a special way that deserves a shout-out,” according to the nominating form students and faculty members are invited to fill out.

Eleventh grade Student Council Representative Ethan Michel explained the thinking behind reviving the award. “It’s important to have this award, one, to give students the recognition that they deserve, and two, to motivate people to keep doing good. The award also creates a good community because students are supporting other students for their good actions,” he said.

Maret students are involved in the process of selecting who gets the Take Care Award. Every week, the Student Council sends out a form inviting students to nominate someone who did something deserving during that week by submitting “a brief explanation as to why this person merits celebration.” Students can nominate a peer or faculty member for a wide range of reasons, such as helping organize events, assisting fellow students, helping keeping the campus clean, or any other action that has a positive effect on the community. Michel explained that the award “really reflects and embodies Maret’s core values of respect, integrity, excellence, creativity, the individual, connectedness, and joy.”

Every Monday the responses are reviewed by the Student Council, who decide who will receive the award at the following week’s convocation. The first four awards recognized a variety of ways in which their recipients had demonstrated care. Jason Nguyen got the nod for encouraging others and building confidence during the production of the musical Freaky Friday, while Bri Alvarez Silva was honored for cleaning up after the winter formal. At the end of February, the award went to a group of students, yearbook editors Evan Atchison and Eli Carroll, both seniors, and juniors Juliet Kreisel, Arsema Mengistu, Lia Kochan, Frankie Hardart, Amelia Tibbits, and Amelia Claud for their work on the annual publication.

Caroline Lidy ’26 received the award for her contributions to music at Maret, including stepping up to help run sound during the pep rally this fall, planning for and leading performances by Maret’s Rock Combo, and organizing Open Mic Night. Lidy felt “grateful” for receiving the award. “It felt good to have people recognize what I have been doing, and I greatly appreciate it,” she said. Lidy is glad that the award has been brought back. “It is important because there is a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes that can sometimes feel like it goes unrecognized. It is amazing that people are acknowledging it, and it can also just simply encourage people to be better to one another,” she noted.

Some students have looked to the Take Care Awardees as role models. Conor Ward ’25 explained, “I’m really grateful that Maret could find another way to thank those who are doing such good for our community, like Jason. He’s a great example of what people should be like at this school.”

Access the Woodley Leaves online.