Area Scholars to Meet President

One was lead attorney on her high school’s award-winning mock trial team. Another is a violinist and hospital volunteer. Another makes offbeat animated films. And a fourth directed a 20-minute kung fu movie starring some of his friends.

All are Southern California high school seniors and recipients this year of one of the nation’s highest honors for students--the Presidential Scholar award.

The four--from the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, the South Bay and the Westside--will travel to Washington next month to meet President Bush and receive their medallions.

The 38-year-old award identifies some of the most accomplished high school seniors in the country for their academic achievement, leadership skills, character and involvement in school and community activities. A White House commission appointed by the president selected this year’s 141 winners from a field of 2,600.

“There’s never even been a semifinalist from my school, so I was so excited,” said Denise Grab, a 17-year-old from San Gabriel who attends San Marino High School.

Grab and Justin Kao of Palos Verdes Peninsula High are the region’s two academic winners. Both scored a perfect 1600 on the Scholastic Assessment Test and have lengthy records of community service and extracurricular activities on their campuses.

Grab, the daughter of two state deputy attorneys general, was the editor of a campus political publication in addition to working on the mock trial team. She also has volunteered long hours with local AIDS service centers and tutored abused children with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

Grab will attend UC Berkeley in the fall and plans to major in environmental science.

Kao, 17, the son of an engineer and a teacher’s assistant, is a violinist in the Palos Verdes Peninsula orchestra and is editor of the opinion page for his school newspaper, The Pen. He volunteers regularly at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance and recently won a science scholarship that will pay for a trip to New York in July.

“I definitely want to major in something science-related,” said Kao, who will attend Stanford in the fall. “Maybe something like biochemistry genetics.”

The two performing arts scholars, nominated by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, are Ken Roy from Viewpoint School in Calabasas and David Green from Crossroads in Santa Monica.

Both 18-year-olds have won local and national awards for their short films.

Roy, who lives in Woodland Hills, has received numerous accolades for his offbeat animated films, including the NFAA’s highest honor at a festival in Miami this year.

His top work includes a mix of live action and computer graphics called “Little Visitor,” about tiny aliens looking for fuel on earth, and “Puppets,” about an old puppeteer.

Roy, who is 6-foot-3, also stars on Viewpoint’s basketball and volleyball teams. He became interested in film as a child while watching his father, a video editor, work. Roy will study film at Cal State Long Beach in the fall.

Green, who lives in Santa Monica, will attend UC Berkeley. He has made about 80 films in his short career and among his top works are a six-minute comedy called “Fly Trap” about killer flies, and “Ring of Death,” a 20-minute kung fu movie starring friends and one of his teachers as a cocaine-smuggling bad guy.

“I started filming when I was 8 years old,” said Green, whose father is a television director. “I took my dad’s video camera and I’d stand in the yard and smash eggs and film it.”

Though it has been held at the White House in past years, the Presidential Scholar ceremony will take place June 25 at a site to be determined, Department of Education spokeswoman Melinda Ulloa said.

Texas had the most Presidential Scholars this year with eight, followed by Connecticut with five. Four states besides California each had four scholars--Alabama, Florida, South Dakota and Wisconsin.