Hard work pays off, as students attending the Breakfast of Champions realized Friday.

Forty-six students were nominated for the Breakfast of Champions for outstanding academic performance.

It all started as a mystery when students started getting invitations to attend the Breakfast of Champions.

The invitation had no further information other than,  “Congratulations you have been nominated to attend the Breakfast of Champions Jan. 13.”

“I feel proud of myself because I’ve done my best,” sophomore Kamal Patel said.

The students did not know which teachers nominated them but had someone in mind.

“I think Mr.Kempski nominated me, I feel really grateful and special that one of my teachers nominated me for a champion, so I feel like a champion,” senior Lesly Romero said.

Feeling like a champion but not knowing for what remained a secret until the day of the event.

“I feel like I have accomplished something but I’m not sure what it is,” sophomore Emily Ballines said.

The event was organized to recognize students’ efforts and hard work.

“Student are nominated by teachers, they have the opportunity to nominate a student for any reason that they think it’s appropriate, if they’re doing better in classes, maybe they did something exceptional, a project, or a group work or something,” division head of counseling and student services Len Egan said.

Students were handed a certificate and prizes.

“Three years ago we started (the breakfast of champions), we used to do something called a ‘Paws Breakfast’ where two teachers from each department would nominate somebody and come eat breakfast with them and give them a certificate,” activities director Marc Wolfe said.