St. Petersburg College: 2021 Presidential Scholars Honored At Seminole

Clearwater FL

20 August, 2021

12:40 PM

Description

Press release from the St. Petersburg College: 2021-08-19 St. Petersburg College (SPC) leadership and supporters came together on Wednesday, August 18, 2021 at Seminole Campus to celebrate the latest group of Presidential Scholars joining the college. This year there were 35 students honored with the prestigious award which recognizes outstanding achievement among Pinellas County high school students. They are graduating seniors from public, private, parochial, and home school environments who have a weighted GPA of 3.5 or higher. These students are also automatically accepted into the SPC Honors Program and are provided a full tuition scholarship for 60 credit hours of study at the college. "Being named a Presidential Scholar is a testament to your choices, your dreams, and your persistence," remarked Dr. Matthew Liao-Troth, Vice President of Academic Affairs. SPC's 2021 Presidential Scholars are certainly an impressive bunch. Earl Fratus, Director of the SPC Honors Program, shared that collectively, the average weighted GPA of the group is 4.3, the average SAT score is 1229, and the average ACT score is 26. Past SPC Presidential Scholars have gone on to do amazing things as well. Cierra Reynolds ('21) sang a moving rendition of John Lennon's "Imagine" to begin the ceremony. She has previously sung the National Anthem at Tampa Bay Rays baseball games and auditioned for national competition shows like America's Got Talent. The student speaker for the evening, Amy Bhatt, JD ('16), was unfortunately under the weather and could not attend, but Dr. Mark Strickland, Provost of the Seminole Campus, assured guests that she would be sending a personal message to each Presidential Scholar. Strickland went on to extoll the many achievements of Bhatt which include being an SPC Presidential Scholar as well as being the only student in the history of the college to have won both the Apollo Award, the highest honor an associate degree graduate can achieve, and the Alumni Achievement Award, the highest honor a bachelor's graduate can achieve. Bhatt is now a Senior Staff Attorney for Judge Daniel Sleet at the Florida Second District Court of Appeal. After each Presidential Scholar was recognized on stage Dr. Liao-Troth gave the official closing remarks before SPC President Dr. Tonjua Williams approached the podium to impart some final wisdom for the students. She spoke candidly about how higher education is meant to challenge and shape you and that students should study hard, but also participate in the social aspects of being an SPC Titan. "College is about way more than higher education," said Williams. "It's about discovering who you are and what you're made of and finding out what kind of grit you have." Andie Adrian Brad Aurich Jaida Barber Sarah Beardsley Jace Bray Kimberly Bui Brooke Cliborne Lena Conway Alex Crews Dylan DeSantis Josephine Grchan Meredith Hall Jasmina Hasikic Alicia Holley Savannah Jewett Alejandro Jimenez Kimberly Kerwood Nevaeh Kirk Jackson Lemon Mariam Mansy Aldin Music Kiana Nieves Ciara Noe Rafael Orozco Zoei Ortega Elizabeth Pettit Valeria Ramirez Danielle Santhouse Danielle Schultz Myranda Smith Daisy Stephens Angelina Woodring Matthew Young Nicholas Young Isabella ZdrubeckyThis press release was produced by the St. Petersburg College. The views expressed here are the author's own.