By Chris Bavender
Two Indiana students are among the 161 high school seniors from across the nation named U.S. Presidential Scholars for 2017. Both are from Carmel.
Michael Wang of Carmel High School and Elise Zaniker of University High School received the honor and traveled to Washington, D.C. June 18 to 20 for the Presidential Scholar National Recognition Program. Traditionally, scholars meet with the president and/or the secretary of education and also have an opportunity to meet their Congressional representatives.
Established in 1964 through an executive order, the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program recognizes and honors some of the nation’s most distinguished graduating high school seniors.
Wang, 18, was on his way to the airport with friends when he checked the Dept. of Education list online and saw he was among the scholars.
“It’s a great honor to be named a Presidential Scholar, and I recognize that,” Wang said. “At the same time, it’s also a motivator. I know people’s expectations for Presidential Scholars are huge, and I wouldn’t want to let those people down.”
Zaniker agrees the award is a “truly incredible honor.”
“It makes me very thankful for all of the help I’ve received in my education, from teachers to friends and family,” she said. “It was also a great way to validate all of the hard work I had put into my education.”
Zaniker, 18, will attend the Honors College at Purdue University as a Stamps Scholar to study engineering.
“I am very confident I would not have experienced the amount of success that I have had without the access to quality education,” she said.
Wang is headed to Princeton University, where he plans to study economics or public policy at the Woodrow Wilson School.
“I know that Presidential Scholars, both former and current, do and have done amazing things,” he said. “It’s an honor that it’s hard to feel worthy of as a high school graduate and a designation you try to fulfill for the rest of your life.”
