Most graduates are congratulated for hard work in high school by their parents and friends. But two Utahns were also hailed for an hour Monday by President Clinton.
Lindsay Leininger of Bonneville High School in Washington Terrace, Weber County, and Gabriel A. Mendel of Park City High School were invited to the White House and given gold medals as two of 141 presidential scholars nationwide in a South Lawn ceremony.They were chosen in a competition among the nation's top 5,000 scorers in the SAT and ACT college entrance exams, and had to take additional tests and write extra essays.
"What really struck me is that the president of the United States took a good hour out of his day to come and sit with a bunch of 18 year olds and honor us for something that sometimes in this country falls through the cracks: academics," said Mendel.
He plans to attend Harvard University to major in government. In high school, he had a 3.77 grade point average and scored 1590 out of 1600 on his SAT exam. He was also editor of his high school newspaper.
"A lot of times in the country we focus a lot on athletics or kids who are in trouble - the smokers, the addicts, pregnancies. It's not all that often that you get together a group of academic scholars and say, `good job,' " he said.
Leininger added, "I was amazed at how personable and how friendly the president was," as Clinton lingered after his speech and medal presentation to shake hands and chat with scholars.
Leininger was blocked by four rows of people in front of her trying to reach the president after the medal ceremony, "but it was like he parted the Red Sea of people and came through them to make sure he shook my hand and talk to me."
She earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average in high school, had a perfect score of 36 on her ACT and won an all-expenses-paid Gordon B. Hinckley Scholarship at Brigham Young University, where she plans to major in English enroute to writing children's literature.
Among compliments that Clinton gave the group was, "Today I look out across a group of young people whose brain power could light up this entire city. Someday many of you doubtless will."
They were also greeted by Bruce Reed, Clinton's top domestic policy aide, who exactly 20 years ago was also named a presidential scholar when he graduated from high school in Idaho.