President Lyndon Johnson had lofty hopes for the future when he strode to the center of the East Room in the White House on June 10, 1964.
That was because of all that potential waiting for him.
“I congratulate you,” the president said, “and I congratulate your parents and your teachers for their part in producing your talents for our times.”
He was addressing elite company on that Wednesday evening nearly 60 years ago.
Johnson was welcoming the inaugural class of U.S. Presidential scholars, a group of top-performing students, newly picked, both for their academic achievements in the classroom and altruistic bent in their hometowns.
Across West Virginia, 80 students, including two home-schoolers, have been named candidates in the 2022 program.
In Monongalia County, 14 students from Morgantown High were named, which was two better than last year, again putting the school at the top of the state for the second year running.
MHS finalists are: Shu-Ruei Chang, Nolan Cook, Isabella Ferrell, Owen Gerdes, Alice Guo, Grady King and Elena Kurov.
Dake Lasala, Amber Li, Celina Liang and Irina Stanescu, will also represent the school on Wilson Avenue, along with Liza Wan, Kenneth Wang and Rania Zuri Furaha.
Representing University High School are Nona David, Garrett Nitz and Luke Watson.
About 4,000 students across the nation were selected as candidates this year, based in part on their SAT and ACT scores. The program is invitation only, the organization said. Students may not apply, and their schools may not nominate them.
Nationwide, more than 3 million high school seniors are expected to graduate this spring.
Up to 161 students will be named Presidential Scholars in June.
The honor is also open to students from families of U.S. citizens living abroad, along with classmates from the District of Columbia and Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
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.
Past scholarship winners have gone on to serve as poet laureates and corporate presidents.
Johnson, as said, was addressing generations to come, as he reminded the newly minted scholars 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.”
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