SSS - Princess Four Science Sterling Scholar

It was an amazing day. Princess Four was in a play in the afternoon and had Science Sterling Scholar interviews during the morning and then the Sterling Scholar Awards in the evening.
 
During the last few weeks, she has been working very hard on her portfolio. In the past, the Sterling Scholar in each group would have to make a binder with pages that show their prowess in their specific field. 

Princess Four was asked by the school to represent them in Science. I was shocked by that as she didn't take a science class this year at all. She also didn't get a science award last year but had for her first two years of high school. 

She has already gotten a Dean Scholarship for her work on HOBY to the University of her choice. See that post here.

In that post link above, I also share about how she worried about how she was going to pay for college. I am chuckling as I type this thinking back to how many times we talked about how she was told my someone in her life that they wouldn't help for college and how she stressed and worried that because "they" wouldn't help her, she wouldn't be allowed to go. 

Because of that she has become strong and independent and proven that she can do it on her own with God's help, and even though "help" from others may be nice and make things a bit easier at times, she has learned that if she puts her trust in God, He will take care of her by giving her the skills and opportunities to succeed.

She also has a scholastic scholarship to the college she plans to attend for academic excellence which is a full tuition scholarship. She just went to a weekend for a second interview to be an ambassador for that college. 

She passed the first interview and was invited back for the second interview this past weekend. It would give her another $800 on top of her scholastic scholarship to help with books and fees. 

The porfolio they did this year was an electronic one for the first time ever. She had to write and essay in four different areas. Service was one portion where they judge them. She had LOTS of service this past year. The food bank and her service mission to Thailand come to mind. 

Leadership is another area where they "grade" the applicants. If you read this blog, you will remember lots of things she has done in that area as well. Student body President is the biggest on her plate right now. Click here to a post about that. 

They use the ACT and SAT scores and the person's GPA to grade them as well. At this level, most of the applicants are near a 4.0. But since that is only a portion of the judging, they put the ACT in and the higher the score on that, the higher the points in judging. 

Lastly, they judge on proficiency in the field of scholarship. So, in dance and music, if they did a class in teaching music to elementary kids after school hours, they would give points for that cross over of service. Points in that subject on the ACT, Going to "Camps" or internships over the summer would give points as well. 


So, even thought Princess Four didn't have much science this year, the fact that she is taking college classes and pursuing a Certified Nursing Assistant certificate, that would count towards points in the Science category.

She really didn't think she had much of a shot since she wasn't currently in science. It was just coincidence that she was seated to one of her GOOD friends during the ceremony as he attends a rival school and it happens to be alphabetically next to our school. They were both sterling scholars in Science so she was joking with him during the entire event. Here is a link to a post where they are in a concert together and he is the one holding her in his arms in the third picture in this post.  

He was actually with us at the HOBY dinner in the post above and got a scholarship a few down from Princess as well. He is planning on attending a science school and could really use the scholarship as that school doesn't offer as many scholarships so imagine our joy when he was the one that actually took Region Sterling Scholar and they were so happy for each other. So, out of all the school, Princess was number two in the region in Science and actually, I think she could have given some of the kids a run for their money in a few other categories as well. 

We were actually thrilled with the other kids that represented the school as 7 took first runner up and most of them were her really good friends. One took region and three or four didn't place. I thought that was really amazing that for a small town, we were well represented. 

I was really amazed at the quality of students. There are some really amazing youth in our region. The music scholars performed which shared some amazing talent in small town USA.


It was packed and there were not many seats. Princess told me she was on the right so I sat on the right only to see that she was behind the podium so I stood in the back for almost the entire ceremony so that I could get the pictures I did. 

It was a great night and I am so proud of Princess Four and all she accomplishes in her life. It is funny, but last night I went through all her college stuff to see that we had everything she needs and figured out where she will be living at college and Princess Three will be moving to a larger university and will be "willing" her desk, bookshelf and end table to Princess Four so other than packing up her clothes and registering for classes, Princess is getting ready to MOVE on! I will definitely miss her when she is gone but am proud that she is making such amazing choices in her life. I know I have said it before but I can't wait to see what she will do in her life, whatever it is, I know it will be amazing!