By Sarah Locke-Henderson
Contributing Writer
In the eyes of a high school senior, the college application process is often characterized by tediousness, stress and anxiety. Some Costa students, however, have been awarded for their academic efforts.
Each school year, a select number of high-achieving students are invited to apply for the University of California Berkeley Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholarship and the national Presidential Scholars Award. The UC Berkeley Regents’ Scholarship is granted to college-bound seniors on the basis of “merit, character and community involvement,” according to the Berkely Regent Scholarship requirements.
The UC Berkeley Regents’ Scholarship, funded by the Berkeley system, is considered to be one of the most prestigious scholarship offered to prospective UC students. This year, a Regent committee selected Costa seniors Matt Campbell, Braden Currey, Adam Gerard and Alec Lautanen, as candidates for this scholarship.
“It was an honor to be nominated,” Campbell said. “Berkeley has always been one of my top choices, mainly for the strength of their engineering program. If I received the scholarship it would definitely make attending Berkeley more appealing.”
Some benefits of the scholarship include automatic acceptance into UC Berkeley, an honorary monetary award of $2,500 toward university tuition, guaranteed four-year housing and research grant opportunities. After Berkeley representatives interview the candidates, the university will select the recipients of the scholarship by late March when regular admissions decisions are released. Out of the 600 students who are awarded with the scholarship, nearly 200 attend UC Berkeley.
In addition to outstanding academic achievement, each nominee is an active member of the Mira Costa and Manhattan Beach community. Between all of the candiates, their extracurricular involvement includes participation in athletics, the Model United Nations team, the school orchestra and La Vista.
“To me, the biggest benefit of the scholarship is definitely priority class selection,” Gerard said. “I will be guaranteed the classes I want to take if I attend.”
Aside from the UC Berkley Regent Scholars, two Costa students are being considered for the Presidential Scholars Program. The program was founded in 1964 to honor a select group of high school students for either the Merit Scholars Award or for the Performing Arts Award. This year’s Costa nominees, Jason Kim and Munam Wasi, received invitations to apply for the Merit Award based on their impressive performances on the Scholastic Assesment Test (SAT) under the merit category.
“I was thrilled to learn I’d been recognized as a nominee,” Kim said. “It’s nice to see that working hard pays off in the end.”
Kim is a member of the school’s symphony orchestra as well as the marching and jazz bands. Wasi is a volunteer at the University of California Los Angeles Ronald Reagan Hospital and a member of Model UN and La Vista.
After completing a rigorous application process including including essays, self-assessments, secondary school reports and transcripts, two students from each state are chosen to receive the honor. Unlike the Regents’ Scholarship, the Presidential Scholars Program is not affiliated with a specific university and does not include a financial reward. Recipients are flown to Washington, D.C. in the summer after they graduate high school as official guests of the White House, where they attend lectures and meet with government officials.
“The largest benefit would be the experience of getting to go to the White House and meeting other talented scholars from around the nation,” Kim said.
In 2011, D.J. Stanfill, a sophomore at Yale University and Mira Costa alumni, was chosen as the male Presidential Performing Arts Scholar for California. Although his experience in Washington differed from that of the Merit Scholars,’ he speaks highly of the opportunity, which he considers rewarding.
“The great thing about the award is the network that it gives you,” Stanfill said. “It was inspiring to meet people who excel at the things they love to do.”
Both Kim and Wasi submitted applications for the award late February. Semifinalists will be notified by mid-April and the finalists will be chosen in May.
“This recognition would really help in the long run,” Wasi said. “It’s nice to be considered amongst everyone in the nation.”
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