Granada Hills Student Wins National Honor

A Granada Hills High School senior will meet President Bush at the White House next month, his reward for being one of only 140 Presidential Scholars for 1989.

Mark Paskowitz, 18, was given the honor by the U.S. Department of Education based on his straight A grades, as well as his sports and community activities. Paskowitz is captain of the varsity wrestling team, is an Eagle Scout and is active in student government.

“I’m really excited about it,” said Paskowitz, who learned about the honor from a White House telegram last week.

Paskowitz was nominated for the honor because of his high test scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. He scored 800 out of 800 possible points on the math portion and 730 out of 800 possible points on the English portion of the test.

“Math has always come pretty easy for me,” said Paskowitz, who attended Portola Junior High School’s program for the highly gifted before attending Granada Hills High School.

Paskowitz said he plans to study engineering at UC San Diego in the fall.