Skylar Walters woke up to an unusual sound from her cellphone Thursday. It heralded an email that started with “Congratulations!”
“It sent this jolt of electricity through me,” said Walters, a senior at Madison High School. The message informed her that she is one of three New Jersey Presidential Scholars, an honor for students who excel in academics, the arts, and career and technical education.
Carson He of East Brunswick, who attends East Brunswick High School, and Emily Gao of Morganville, who attends Marlboro High School, received the same honor, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced Thursday. An online celebration will be held for them this summer.
“Throughout one of the most trying periods in our nation’s history and amid our recovery from the pandemic, our students have once again demonstrated their strength and that they have so much to contribute to our country,” Cardona said. “Thanks to them, I know America’s future is bright.”
More than 5,000 of the country’s 3.7 million seniors qualified for the honor based on SAT or ACT scores or nominations from their superintendents or various organizations. Based on essays, school evaluations and transcripts, excellence in academics, the arts, and/or technology, and community service and leadership, the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars chose 161 scholars: one young man and one young woman from each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and U.S. families living abroad; 15 at-large, 20 scholars in the arts and 20 scholars in career and technical education.
Each scholar nominated a teacher who had been important to them to be honored along with them. Carson chose English teacher Elizabeth Kenny-Stein, Emily chose physics teacher Justin Son, and Skylar chose her Advanced Placement biology teacher, Karen DeTrolio.
“I learn from her,” DeTrolio said. “She raises her peers up just as much as I hope to do as a teacher. She’s an all-around, humble, kind, intelligent, driven, great-work-ethic type of kid…and so well-perceived by her peers.”
Skylar Walters of Madison High School was named a Presidential Scholar on Thursday.
DeTrolio said that while attending Harding Middle School, Skylar created and donated prosthetic hands, using the school’s 3-D printer. She was inspired by her younger brother, who was born without fingers on his right hand, but uses her device.
“I’m a rock climber, and I take him climbing …….
Source: https://www.nj.com/education/2022/05/three-nj-high-school-seniors-named-presidential-scholars.html