Two The Dalles High School seniors receive OSU Presidential Scholarships

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.