By Eagle Newswire
Julian Zanders, Cascia Hall High School (CH), has been named a 2019 US Presidential Scholar. From nearly 3.6 million graduating high school seniors, over 5,200 were identified as candidates, and 621 semifinalists were selected from across the country. From that pool, 161 US Presidential Scholars were chosen.
Zanders, a Broken Arrow resident, will attend the award ceremony June 23 in Washington, D.C., where he will receive a Presidential Scholars Medallion.
The honor represents “the culmination of a lot of work,” Zanders said. “I’m pretty happy about it.”
Students are chosen for their outstanding performance on the ACT or SAT, and/or nomination by the Chief State School Officer. Julian earned a perfect score on the ACT. The Scholars program was established in 1964 by Executive Order of the President to recognize the accomplishments of some of our nations most distinguished graduating seniors who demonstrate exceptional scholarship, talent in the arts, or accomplishment in career and technical fields.
Julian is also a National Merit Finalist. The nationwide pool of Finalists represents less than one percent of high school seniors and includes the highest-scoring PSAT/SAT entrants in each state. Julian was one question away from a perfect SAT score as well.
Julian is President of Cascia Hall’s FTC Robotics team as well as Lead Programmer and Safety Captain. Because of his contributions to the CH team and the First Robotics community, he was named to the First Dean’s List of First Tech Challenge students nationwide. In addition, he is a member of the National Honor Society and founder of the Upper School chess club. In addition to his many academic accomplishments, Julian is involved in several extracurricular endeavors which include piano, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, game development, computer programming, and community service.
Zanders, who’s been passionate about computers all his life, said he’s ready to take the next step at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), where he will pursue a degree in computer engineering.
There is one scripture Zander has embraced and often thinks about, “To whom much is given, much is required.”
Parents Donald and Angela Zander states, “As parents we acknowledge that God’s grace and gifts in Julian’s life above all, coupled with his love for learning and hard work since kindergarten, has proven to be a recipe for success and provided many humbling experiences of gratitude for us all.”
Zanders has a sister, Jacqueline Brianna, a Cascia Hall graduate and a sophomore at Harvard University.
The work is just beginning, he knows. Zanders, who graduates from Cascia May 24, will start college this fall at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
