By Geghard ARAKELIAN
CV High School’s men’s basketball coach and student athletes took home nominations and awards at the inaugural Athletes with Character and Ethics (ACE) Awards at the Alex Theatre in Glendale on Wednesday.
Coach Shawn Zargarian received the nomination for  the Coach of a Male Team with Character and Ethics out of a pool of coaches spanning high schools from across the Glen-

dale Unified School District.
“It’s a great honor. Three people getting recognized out of three schools is a good honor. I was really pleased,” said Zargarian.
Also Frances Boukidis and Erik Boyd of Crescenta Valley High School won an ACE award as well as the varsity girls cross country team.
“This entire program was designed to recognize outstanding athletes not just because they are outstanding in their sport but because they exemplify the very best in high character and  high standards, character and ethics,” said Dave Devens who serves on the board of directors for ACE. “This particular program gathered the very top nominations of each category from each school. So everybody that was nominated was already a winner. They’re already recognized in their school as the very best.”
For the high school coach, Crescenta Valley High School is more than just an office.
“Being in CV – its just like a family. I went to high school there for four years. I started coaching as soon as I graduated. I’ve been there since 1993. It’s just a great place to be and I think the pride is what makes the school really good,” said Zargarian.
The ACE Awards are held to commend students who not only excel as sportsmen but also do well in class and are known in the community for their reputation.
Students from various athletic backgrounds were in attendance such as cross country, basketball and spirit.
For a student to be nominated alone is a statistical feat since nominees are drawn from a pool of hundreds. Hence those who were asked to be in attendance can be viewed as outstanding citizens, students and sportsmen, said Devens.
According to Zargarian his pupils are “great kids. I was really fortunate this last year to have a great bunch of guys. Besides being great basketball players they’re great guys, great characters, great ethics. They do a great job in the classroom.”

  ACE Awards, Arakelian, Crescenta