Nine Utah high school juniors received scholarships from Discover Card and the American Association of School Administrators for their extracurricular and academic excellence.
Utah winners are:
- Gold ($2,500): Ashlee DeMille, Hurricane, Hurricane High School; Alan Seawright, Lindon, Pleasant Grove High School; Brynn Janke, Salt Lake City, Olympus High School- Silver ($1,750): Troy Sorensen, Manti, Gunnison Valley High School; Sandy Zhang, Salt Lake City, Olympus High School; Hieu Nhan, Brigham City, Box Elder High School.
- Bronze ($1,250): TeresaAnn Speakman, Stockton, Tooele High School; Melinda Visser, Fillmore, Millard High School; Jan-Juin Ho, Salt Lake City, Olympus High School.
Winners demonstrated accomplishment in four of the five following areas: special talents, leadership, obstacles overcome, unique endeavors and community service. In addition, they must maintain a minimum of 2.75 grade point average.
The Utah School Superintendents Association coordinated the Utah panel of judges. Representing area communities as well as the state's education and business sectors, the judges based their decisions on information from applications sent in by students.
The competition is nationwide. Gold winners in each state will go on to compete for nine national scholarships (3 - $20,000; 3 - $15,000; 3 - $10,000). The national awards will be presented in June at a ceremony in Washington D.C.