LOGAN — What is a Sterling Scholar? According to their website – SterlingScholar.org, a Sterling Scholar is a high school senior who is publicly recognized and awarded for the pursuit of excellence in scholarship, leadership and citizenship in the State of Utah.
On a recent KVNU For the People program, Logan City School District Superintendent Frank Schofield brought along three scholar candidates – Samuel Smith, Violet Bateman and Taylor Laney. Schofield talked about how the program works.
“Every year we have students who we recognize at Logan High School as our Sterling Scholar candidates, and these are students who have done outstanding work in a particular area of emphasis, something that they’re really passionate about.
“We then submit their names and they put together a portfolio that gets submitted to the state, and they engage in the competition there. So, it’s a great way to celebrate, just, students who are achieving outstanding things academically in the areas of their life that they’re pursuing,” Schofield said.
The scholar program incorporates 14 different categories of different academic endeavors from arts to math to language arts, etc, according to Schofield. One of the students, Sam Smith who is pursuing musical instruments said it really involves managing time.
“You have to write, I think, it’s six essays total, each has (about) 500 words. And then you have to list some things that you have done in community service or category expertise and stuff like that. I think we first tried out for Sterling Scholar in…early November and we have to have it by January 10th,” Smith explained.
Taylor Laney is pursuing her Sterling Scholar focus in Technical Sciences, and she talked about her goals.
“I’ve done medical stuff all high school, I knew I was applying medical before I went to high school. I took all the classes. But the start of my junior year, I really (settled) on nursing, and so I’ve just honestly taken all the pre-reqs for nursing to go into that.
“I guess my area of the Sterling Scholar is the Technical Sciences, so I’m planning to go to Bridgerland for my nursing, to get my RN there. So, that’s kind of like where I am,” Laney said.
And Violet Bateman talked about her areas of focus.
“My area is English, and I’ve always loved writing, I’ve always loved reading. I’m going to minor in Journalism, that’s my plan for college, but why I think I won for our school is because I’m publishing an article in the Herald Journal coming up, so that’s exciting. I’m also writing two books…and I have a podcast (laughs),” explained Bateman.
Schofield said the Sterling Scholar program recognizes that both excellence and the effort to achieve excellence are the things that should be highlighted. He said these three students are pursuing that and will help make the world a better place.