Academic Astonishment

Deborah Kimball was embarrassed. Mortified, really. Here she was in a Downey High physics class, half listening to a lecture about optics, when in marched the school band and a peppy announcer shoved a mike in her face.

“Congratulations,” he chirped. “You won an MCI International Scholar Award for $5,000!”

After enduring a few moments of public spotlight, a reddened Deborah suddenly bolted out of her desk and fled from the MCI cameraman who was trying to record the moment. That was not the response the MCI folks expected when they decided to add a little pizazz to their annual scholarship giveaway.

This is the time of year when students not only wait anxiously for word of their scholarship applications, but companies that give scholarships battle hard to stand out. With that in mind, MCI created the MCI Scholar Squad and sent it on the road Monday.

First stop: Belmont High west of downtown.

It was about noon Monday and teacher Christine Chao’s Mandarin class was placidly studying when the raucous parade burst into the room--the school band blaring the Belmont fight song, followed by a host of school administrators carrying flowers and balloons, followed by four local TV news crews.

“Hey everybody!” yelled actor-turned-MCI spokesman Chad Taylor to the stunned class. “We’re here because a couple of your peers have worked very hard. Can you guess who?”

Befuddled, the class stared at him silently.

He worked his way over to where seniors Cheryl Galindo and Huong Mau sat in the middle of the room. “I hear you guys speak a lot of languages.” He paused as they watched him warily. “In a language of your choice, can you say to the cameras, ‘Congratulations, I just won the MCI scholarship for $5,000!’ ”

“Oh my God,” Cheryl exclaimed. The class broke out into whoops and cheers. The cameras soaked it all in.

“I’ve been a college counselor for 19 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Belmont High advisor Michael Thorpe. “It calls attention to the students who are really working hard and striving to do something positive.”

“It’s really going to be helpful for college,” said Huong, the class valedictorian, who is trying to decide between Stanford and Yale. “My family will be so happy because there will be less of a financial burden.”

Cheryl, who is heading to Scripps College in the fall, acknowledged she had an inkling of the surprise: she answered the phone in the student activities room earlier in the morning when the Scholar Squad called to say it was running late.

“It’s still kind of shocking,” she smiled. “I applied to one of those Ed McMahon things and I didn’t get it, so I guess this makes up for it.”

Cheryl and Huong were the first two students of 60 nationwide who will be surprised by the Scholar Squad this week and next. Winners were selected on the basis of an essay, academic achievements, community involvement and fluency in two or more languages. Four L.A. students were surprised Monday; six more will receive classroom visits today.

“This is principally an immigrant school, and to have this support is crucial,” said Belmont Principal Augustine Herrera. “It shows the public that, yes, the American dream can come true.”

After Belmont High, the scholar squad van headed south on the Golden State Freeway to Downey Senior High.

There, they confronted Deborah Kimball in her afternoon physics class.

“This is soooo embarrassing,” sighed Deborah, a top science student heading to UCLA in the fall, after she finally returned to her desk. Her classmates laughed as she slunk in her seat to the sound of applause and cheers.

“No way, man,” yelled a girl across the room. “You want everybody to know when you get something like this. All right!”

Deborah shook her head.

“It’d be funny if it were someone else,” she said. “But I’d rather get an envelope in the mail!”