Four Collierville High students named candidates for Presidential Scholarships | Collierville IndependentCollierville Independent

Four Collierville High School students have been named candidates for the U.S. Presidential Scholarship Program.

Sandy Ritchie, Kevin Sun, Holly Therrell and William Yao have been named among 3,000 candidates for the 2014 program.

The candidates were selected from nearly 3.4 million students expected to graduate from high school this year.

Inclusion in the Presidential Scholars Program, now in its 50th year, is one of the highest honors bestowed upon graduating high school seniors. Scholars are selected on the basis of superior academic and artistic achievements, leadership qualities, strong character and involvement in the community and school activities. More than 3,000 students were selected for their exceptional performance on either the SAT or ACT tests.

In addition, each Chief State School Officer was invited to nominate three male and female candidates, based on their outstanding scholarship, residing in the jurisdiction. Further consideration is based on students’ essays, self-assessments, descriptions of activities, school recommendations and transcripts.

A distinguished panel of educators will review these submissions and selected 560 semifinalists in April. The 32-member Commission on Presidential Scholars will make the final selection of scholars.

They will select one man and one woman from each state, 15 students at large and up to 20 students from the creative and performing arts. Scholars will be invited to Washington, DC for several days in June to receive a medallion at the recognition ceremony and to participate in events with their elected representatives, educators and other leading individuals.