Super Kids at Public Schools

It’s trendy to say that public education is either (a) the reason nothing is right in society or (b) is society’s very salvation. But if it is true that what is honored in a society will be cultivated there, then there is some cause for optimism. That’s because, in spite of public education’s many floggings, it is cultivating students whose work brings honor not only to themselves and their families, but to the system that produced them.

Three Southern California public school students have won top awards in recognition of outstanding scholarship in science and in law. A San Gabriel student was one of 10 nationwide who won the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, the “Nobel Prize” of high school science. Another student in Riverside was a finalist. In the Los Angeles County Mock Trial Championships, a southwest Los Angeles student was named outstanding student litigator.

San Gabriel High student Tessa Walters, 16, discovered an enzyme that one day could help alleviate high blood pressure. Her mother encouraged her natural curiosity early, through classes at the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry, another publicly funded treasure. Wei-Jen Jerry Shan, 17, of John W. North High School in Riverside, came up with a project that could improve the aerodynamic efficiency of airplane wing tips. The Taipei native studied reams of NASA notes.

Jermon Maxey, 16, is part of a team of Dorsey High students who won the county Mock Trial Championships. The Dorsey team beat suburban and private school teams.

Here’s a salute to these students, to all students who don’t get enough recognition, and to a public school system that almost never gets credit for doing a lot of things right.