The North End Mothers’ Club (NEMC) has underwritten the cost of reframing the photos of all recipients of the two most prestigious awards given annually to ETHS graduating seniors: the North End Mothers’ Senior Girl’s Honor Award and the Oliver Baty Cunningham Award.
Both of these awards are unique because students do not apply for them nor do faculty members nominate students for them. Instead ETHS students nominate their peers for the awards. Those nominated are then vetted against first-in-class criteria that include intellect, character, capacity for leadership, and service both to school and community. Those vetted are then voted upon by their peers, and the two recipients are selected based on the vote tallies.
The Cunningham Award was established in 1920 by Oliver’s parents to honor their son, who had been killed in action in France during WWI. The NEMC Award was created in 1952 when representatives of the North End Mothers’ Club approached then superintendent Dr. Lloyd Michael, with the idea of creating an award for female students to complement the existing award for male students.
Photographs of all of the recipients are part of a large display in the second floor lobby of ETHS.