BEAR RIVER HIGH – By Cari Doutre – Feb. 6, 2020
Every year high schools throughout Utah send 14 students, all seniors, to compete in the prestigious Sterling Scholar program sponsored by The Deseret News and KSL. What started as a way to recognize excellence in academics, the program highlights the brightest and most talented students in various categories in this scholarship program.
The program started in the early 1960s and has gone through several changes throughout the decades. However, the title of a “Sterling Scholar” has reached a point of great honor for Utah students.
The program highlights students at the local school level first then at the state level. There are 14 categories in five different regions in Utah that differ according to rural versus more populated regions.
Those regions are Wasatch Front, Northeast Utah, Central Utah, Southeast Utah and Southwest Utah.
The Sterling Scholar program is more than just good grades. Students must show exemplary achievements in the category they are nominated in as well as leadership and involvement within their communities. There’s more than just an application to fill out.
Students must present a portfolio for their work in the category they represent and are then interviewed by judges where they can move closer to further levels of competition.
Bear River High is part of the Wasatch Front North area region. Also included in this region is Ben Lomond High, Bonneville High, Bountiful High, Box Elder High, Clearfield High, DaVinci Academy, Davis High, Farmington High, Fremont High, Green Canyon High, InTech Collegiate High, Layton High, Leadership Academy of Utah, Logan High, Mountain Crest High, Northridge High, Ogden High, Ridgeline High, Roy High, Sky View High, Stansbury High, Syracuse High, Tooele High, Utah Military Academy, Venture High, Viewmont High, Weber High, West High and Woods Cross High.
A ceremony will be held on Thursday, March 19, 2020, in Salt Lake City at the Conference Center Little Theater where winners and runner ups (from each category) will be announced.
This year’s Bear River High Class of 2020 Sterling Scholars are:
Natalie Arteaga – Visual Arts
Kelby Avery – Instrumental Music
Tamsyn Brown – World Languages
Emily Duncan – Mathematics
Peri Maynard – Social Science
Kamrin McNeill – Family and Consumer Sciences
Mattie Mecham – English
Brandi Olsen – Skilled and Technical Sciences Education
Tucker Porter – Computer Technology
Carly Randall – Vocal Performance
Shaelyn Stephens – Business and Marketing
Brooklyn Stevenson – Science
Rachel Tillotson – Speech/Theater Arts/Forensics
Hadlee Woodward – Dance
