Three city students share national honors
By Lola Duffort
RUTLAND HERALD STAFF WRITER | November 25,2015
Three Rutland County seniors — including two Stafford Technical Center students — were among the 24 chosen this year to be Vermont’s nominees to the U.S. Presidential Scholars program.
First established by a presidential executive order in 1964 to recognize outstanding high school seniors across the country, the program was extended this year to specifically recognize students demonstrating excellence in the career and technical education fields.
In the Rutland region, Abigail Wright and Jonah Farrow from Stafford Tech won recognition in this new category alongside Emma Cijka from Otter Valley Union High.
A newcomer from Baltimore, Maryland her junior year, Wright was able to fit right in upon arrival at Stafford Tech, said Brian Narkewicz, STEM Academy instructor.
She’s just “a pleasure to work with,” he said. That’s on top of being “incredibly perseverate and able to work collaboratively to problem solve.”
Wright called the award “a huge honor” and said she was just “so surprised” to have won. She plans to study biomedical engineering in college because “there’s so much left to explore, and I love problem solving and fixing things.”
Debra Perkins, public safety services instructor at Stafford, called Farrow “just the kind of person there aren’t enough of in this world.”
“He has a sense of duty and selflessness that I’ve never seen in a person his age,” she said.
Farrow is a “natural leader” with a good sense of humor, she said, who is able to give constructive direction when problems arise.
Otter Valley’s valedictorian, Cijka is an accomplished flutist, skier and cross-country runner as well. She helps tend her family’s goat herd at the family farm and cheese-making business.
Despite Cijka’s varied achievements, Otter Valley High guidance counselor Meredith McCartney said she was perhaps most notable for her humility.
“She’s incredibly kind and not at all pretentious,” McCartney said. “She’s not someone who boasts at all.”
Like Wright, Cijka said she was surprised and honored for the recognition. Inspired by her time on her family farm, Cijka said she plans to become a large-animal veterinarian one day, .
Vermont’s other Presidential Scholar nominees include: Willoughby R. Forbes of Montpelier High; Tillie Quattrone and Ethan McCollister of U32; Delaney Reanna Bryant and Colin Dana Myrick of North Country Union High; Alyssa Cote, Nicole Young and Coleton Loura-Bumps of Danville School; Eloise Damerel Bisbee and Matthew Ellison of Mount Mansfield Union; Kelsey Ensminger of Spaulding High School; Kelsey R Sherman and Brenden Hay of Mount Anthony Union High School; Clementine O’Connor of Cabot School; Nadia Lake Clement of Thetford Academy; James Moore of Burr and Burton Academy; Luke Belleville of Canaan Schools; Bhupinderjit Singh of BFA Fairfax; Kelsey Jacobs of Randolph Technical Center; Robert Popeleski of the Center for Technology, Essex; and Lydia Stricker of the Burlington Technical Center.
The students will be honored at a Dec. 3 ceremony at the State House in Montpelier.
lola.duffort @rutlandherald.com