The young men could have been Esquire ads for Butch Wax or bowties.
And the young women, with their Sandra Dee ‘dos and pearls borrowed from Mom for the occasion, were studies of girlish charm and true beauty to come.
Then-President Lyndon Johnson strode to the center of the East Room in the White House to remind them of how smart they were.
“I congratulate you,” the president said, “and I congratulate your parents and your teachers for their part in producing your talents for our times.”
That was June 10, 1964, and Johnson was naming the inaugural class of U.S. Presidential Scholars, an elite group of academic high-schoolers from across the nation.
Monongalia County’s three public high schools are all represented in the 2021 selection of candidates for the honor, and Morgantown High School, in fact, leads West Virginia with 12 nominations, the most in the state.
They are: Ataes Aggarwal, Lauren Fitzwater, Michael Hoefler, Josephine Kemp-Rye, Nicole Liang, Peter Luo, Daniel McDonald, Jihan Park, Geoffrey Swisher, Sachin Thaker, Amanda Wang and Silas Wang.
Representing University High are Kathryn Lerfald, Jacob Rechter, Patrick Ryan and Elizabeth Warner.
Holden Ammons is the presidential scholar candidate from Clay-Battelle High School.
The selection isn’t just based on test scores – community service and leadership attributes also factor in.
Of the nearly 3.6 million high school seniors graduating this year, approximately 4,500 students receive this invitation, the organization said.
A total of 500 candidates will be chosen as semifinalists in March.
In April, 121 finalists will be named from all states, along with the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
The honor is also open to students from families of U.S. citizens living abroad.
Up to 15 at-large students will also be selected.
In 1979, the program was expanded to recognize students who demonstrate exceptional scholarship and talent in the visual, creative and performing arts.
Another change came in 2015, when the program was expanded again to recognize students who demonstrate accomplishment in career and technical fields.
If the pandemic permits, the 2021 finalists will receive the Presidential Scholars Medallion at a White House ceremony in Washington in June, as part of an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation’s capital.
Past scholarship winners have gone on to serve as poet laureates and corporate presidents.
Johnson had the future in mind when he addressed that first class, saying they had the potential, “in 1974, 1984 and 1994,” as he said, of doing good for their country by way of their intellect.
“You are younger than most of the Earth’s quarrels and you are older than most of the Earth’s governments,” the president told the inaugural nominees.
“This is your challenge,” he continued, “to give your talents and your time in our land and in all lands to cleaning away the blight, to sweeping away the shoddiness, to wiping away the injustices and the inequities of the past.”
TWEET@DominionPostWV
