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Whether it be teaching English to kids from a different country or organizing a robotics lesson at an elementary school, service is an important part of every community. One way to provide service for others is by becoming a Sterling Scholar.
A Sterling Scholar is a student participating in an academic program where involved students compete in 15 different academic categories against other schools in the central Utah region for a chance to win money that goes to the higher education of their choice.
This year, we had three people place in their respective categories. Calder Bailey placed 1st in computer science, Canales was a runner-up in foreign language and Hallie Probst was a runner-up in family and consumer science (FACS).
“It’s a really cool program, and it highlights kids who maybe wouldn’t be highlighted,” Sterling Scholar advisor Jori Turpin said. “It’s kind of a way for those kids who maybe are just amazing students to get highlighted.”
Each Sterling Scholar has their own category that they compete in. Some examples of these categories include math, science, music and many more.
Before the competition, the Scholars also need to prepare a portfolio. In this portfolio, there are three categories that the students focus on. Those categories include leadership, service and overall participation in their category.
“The students try to build up their portfolios over the years by getting leadership positions, get community service activities done, and then participate in their specific category they are competing in,” Turpin said.
These portfolios consist of all the experiences the Scholar feels relate to their category. The Scholars also try to put on events or do service to help their community.
“It’s so much fun to do service,” sterling scholar Jasmin Canales said. “For me, doing [service] is something that made me happy and it’s not just something I had to do.”
In addition to these portfolios, the Scholars will also be interviewed at the competition.
“My strategy, I think, differed a bit from amongst the sterling scholars,” Bailey said. “I kinda just did what I normally did and wrote about it.”
The students who win their category receive $2,500, which is sent to the school they will attend. There are two runner-ups in each category, and each receives $1,000, which is also sent to whatever school they are attending. Other benefits of being a Sterling Scholar include receiving smaller scholarships or universities paying for your books.
“A lot of people put [sterling scholar] on their resume,” Turpin said. “There are also some smaller scholarships you can get at different universities for being a sterling scholar.”
Preparation for next year’s Sterling Scholar competition has already begun. The Sterling Scholars for next year are Miley Clawson for general, Lin Anderson for dance, Caleb Benson for science, Indie Heywood for music, Crystal Holyoak for agriculture, Mary Ivory for art, Summer Johnson for business, Addelynne Jones for FACS, Logan Martin for math, Ethan Mendicino for speech and drama, Kortney Mitchell for foreign language, Mason Murphy for trade and tech, Madison Shelley for English and Tori Shirley for social science.
Sterling Scholar provides opportunities for a group of intellectual students to do service for the community while simultaneously opening possibilities for scholarships for their higher education.
“[Sterling Scholar] was a really cool experience to be able to be so involved in something that is tied to my future and also be a part of a group of people who also care so much about the same things I do,” Probst said.
For all students who would like to do Sterling Scholar in the future, start preparing by doing service in your community. Make sure to take pictures of any service done so it can be added to your portfolio. Another way to prepare is by keeping your grades up and getting leadership positions in any activity you are doing. Being a Sterling Scholar is hard work, but there are opportunities that come with it.
