The Dalles High School students Aiden Nuñez, left and Everest Lenardson, right, both 18, open up gift boxes presented to them after each received the prestigious Presidential Award from Oregon State University. More photos at columbiagorgenews.com.
Helen H. Richardson photo / Special to Columbia Gorge News
The Dalles High School students Aiden Nuñez, left and Everest Lenardson, right, both 18, open up gift boxes presented to them after each received the prestigious Presidential Award from Oregon State University. More photos at columbiagorgenews.com.
Helen H. Richardson photo / Special to Columbia Gorge News
THE DALLES — Two seniors at The Dalles High School (TDHS) got the Presidential Scholarship, a full ride to Oregon State University (OSU), for their outstanding academic achievement.
TDHS is the only school in eastern Oregon with two awardees.
Everest Lenardson and Aiden Nuñez had no idea until Sara Harvey of OSU called them to the auditorium stage in front of the whole school during an assembly on March 5. They’ve been friends since first grade. Aiden will major in electrical engineering, Everest in mechanical engineering.
Their parents knew about ten days in advance, and had to keep quiet about it.
“I decided to not think about it,” Lenardson’s mom said. “Cause if I looked at him and thought about it, it was really hard — cause I’m one of those people that, when I buy you the Christmas present, I want to show it to you.”
“I was really excited when they announced the awards because now I don’t have to worry about scholarships anymore,” said Lenardson, who turned in scholarships days earlier while his parents carefully kept quiet.
Because the scholarship stacks with the Finley Academic Excellence Award this year, it equals $15,000 per year for each student. Awardees are chosen from the pool of OSU applicants with a 3.8 minimum GPA, based on their work in and outside the classroom.
It's a merit-based award that considers academics, extracurriculars, and personal essay all get considered; all applicants to OSU's Corvallis or Cascades campus get considered automatically. This year, about 3,060 students were eligible and just 145 got selected.
"I feel extremely lucky to get to be a part of celebrating our Presidential Scholars! These students are high achievers, and I think it is wonderful to have their efforts over the past 4 years recognized. This scholarship can cover a massive chunk of tuition, which I know can have a major impact on students and their families. I appreciate that it can be a way to make college more accessible to students in Oregon," Harvey said.
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