The Best Brains : 4 Southland Students Are Presidential Scholars

Eight California high school seniors, including three from Los Angeles County and one from Orange County, were among the 141 students nationwide who on Friday were named Presidential Scholars.

Local winners were Matthew T. Rushing of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts; Jae K. Kang of Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, and Michelle M. Kim and Anders D. Martinson of Crossroads School for Arts/Science, a private school in Santa Monica.

Kang was among the 121 selected on the basis of academic achievement, leadership, character and “commitment to high ideals,” the U.S. Department of Education said in announcing the annual awards. Rushing, Kim and Martinson were among the 20 chosen for their accomplishments in the performing or creative arts.

The Presidential Scholars will visit Washington for a week next month and will receive medallions at a White House ceremony. They also receive $1,000 each.

The 27-year-old Presidential Scholars program annually honors two students from each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and from U.S. families living abroad. Fifteen additional students may be picked at large.

Students are invited to become candidates based on Scholastic Aptitude Test or American College Test scores. Arts candidates are selected with help from the Miami-based National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Candidates are asked to submit essays, self-assessments, and school transcripts and recommendations.

Other Presidential Scholars from California are Dolores Bozovic of Palo Alto High, Palo Alto; Marisa A. DeSalles of Valley High in Sacramento, and John D. Owens and Gregory S. Yap, both of Los Gatos High, Los Gatos.