State Board Honors Utah’s Presidential Scholars

By executive order, the United States Presidential Scholars Program has been honoring our finest students since 1964. Every year since then, up to 141 graduating seniors have been recognized for their achievements in academics and the arts.  Candidates are first evaluated using their SAT and ACT scores or their artistic ability, depending on the category. Invitations to apply are sent out to the eligible students, about 20 in each state. These numbers are whittled down even further as academic and artistic achievements, personal characteristics, leadership, and service activities are considered. The applications are reviewed, semifinalists are chosen by a committee. From there, one male and one female from each state are selected as finalists, in addition to 20 arts scholars nationwide. Today, we are fortunate to have some of Utah’s Presidential Scholars with us so we can honor them for this prestigious achievement. Please join me in recognizing these outstanding students.

The semifinalists are:

• Ms. Shelby Jorgensen, Utah County Academy of Sciences
• Mr. Nikolaos Liodakis, Hillcrest High School
• Ms. Malia Stephens, Academy for Math, Engineering and Science
• Mr. Stephen Ward, Bountiful High School

The finalists are:

• Ms. Skylar Goldman, Park City High School
• Mr. Andrew Johnson, Riverton High School

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