Catherine Tang admits she has no idea what she’s going to major in at the University of Pennsylvania this fall. However, the East Lyme High School senior should have no worries about academic achievement.
Tang has been named a 2008 Presidential Scholar, an honor bestowed on only 139 graduating high school students in the country. The honors were announced by Margaret Spellings, U.S. Secretary of Education. The department oversees the prestigious program. Over the past 44 years, over 5,000 of the nation’s top performing students have been selected to be Presidential Scholars.
The Presidential Scholars recognition is given to students who have demonstrated exemplary discipline and achievement in academics and the arts, as well as exceptional leadership and service to their local communities. The academic component of the program selects students who have scored exceptionally well on the College Board SAT or the ACT Assessment. Selections are based on written essays, school evaluations and transcripts.
Tang has earned perfect scores on all seven advanced placement (AP) courses she has taken and has completed Latin classes at Connecticut College. She plays lacrosse, is base section leader in the high school symphony and is a member of the National Honor Society.
She transferred to East Lyme High in January 2007 from Ann Arbor-Huron High School when her family moved here as Pfizer closed its research and development center in Michigan. Her mother, Jenny Wu, now works at Bristol-Myers in Wallingford.
As part of her essay, Tang said she wrote about family life with her nine-year-old brother Alan, who has been diagnosed with a metabolic disorder, which makes him nonverbal. He attends Lillie B. Haynes School. Their grandmother came from Beijing, China, last year to help out. The two also have to rely on communications beyond verbal, since the grandmother speaks only Chinese and Tang, who was born in Michigan, speaks very little of it.
Tang also has been a live-in camp counselor for youth and adults with disabilities and traveled to China on a study tour with students of the College of William and Mary.
While it’s tough to move from one state and town to another in the middle of high school, let alone in the school year, Tang looks on the bright side. She and a close female friend, a former classmate at her Ann Arbor high school, both get to be Presidential Scholars this year. Usually only one girl and one boy get selected per state. The two will get to go through a medallion ceremony together in Washington D.C. in late June. Tang is expecting to shake hands with at least one White House resident in the process.
Tang was nominated for the Presidential Scholar honor by her East Lyme High math teacher, Brian Bergeron. For more information about Presidential Scholars, go to www.ed.gov/