Out of all the clubs that are held on campus, the California Scholarship Federation (CSF) Club is the only one that is based mainly on academic merit.

The club is run by junior Yasmine Saraf and is assisted by social sciences teacher Davy Keo.

“My goals for the club are for all members to feel good about what they’re doing in CSF while earning some community service hours,” Saraf said.

The club is a chapter of the CSF organization, which is designed to reward good scholars throughout the state.

“It’s (CSF) an organization that really only recognizes good grades. Students who do well in school should be recognized and we (DPMHS) don’t have ways to do that based on their grades,” Keo said.

The local chapters are often grouped into districts, which may contain six or more schools. Regional conferences are usually hosted by individual high school chapters in collaboration with local California Junior Scholarship Federation chapters.

The conferences have various panels and presentations that the CSF member students can attend on a variety of topics on how to improve their academic career.

In March, six CSF club members attended the Central Southern Regional Conference at Montebello High School. The conference consisted of workshops, CSF speakers and students were able to speak to CSF officers.

“I really liked the conference,” club member Chanel Jacobo said. “It was really informative I learned a lot from it.”

And going to a conference isn’t the only perk of belonging to CSF. Each year, select members are nominated to receive the Seymour Memorial Award, which is based on their character, leadership and service.

Those selected get an opportunity to become one of the 50 finalists that receive $2,000 each. Among those 50, one finalist from each of the five regions may receive an additional award of $3,000 as a regional award recipient. The award is one of the highest scholastic honors given to graduates in the state.

“It (the club’s existence) really points out, ‘Hey, we have a lot of kids who do well.’,” Keo said.