WAIMEA — Sidney Vermeulen, a senior at Hawaii Preparatory Academy, was named one of 723 semifinalists to advance in the final round of the 2017 U.S. Presidential Scholars competition.
She was one of eight Hawaii semifinalists and the only one from Hawaii Island. The semifinalists were selected from more than 5,100 students identified as candidates in the program on the basis of superior achievements, leadership qualities, personal character and involvement in community and school activities.
Kyle Matsuda, a 2012 graduate, and Zoe Sims, a 2013 alum, are the school’s most recent Presidential Scholars.
Vermeulen is the daughter of Tom Vermeulen and Koren Kobayashi of Kailua-Kona. She is a member of the Cum Laude Society, president of the school’s Pacific Asian Affairs Council Club and an active participant in HPA’s Sea Turtle Research Program.
As a volunteer with the Kohala Watershed Partnership, her projects have included working as a teaching assistant in Waimea Middle School’s STEM program, teaching English to children in Vietnam, helping with reforestation initiatives on the slopes of Mauna Kea and volunteering as a teen leader.
She will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall.
Final selection of the Scholars will be made by the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars, a group of eminent citizens appointed by the president, later this month. The Commission will select one young man and one young woman from each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and U.S. students living abroad, as well as 15 chosen at-large, 20 U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts and 20 U.S. Presidential Scholars in Career and Technical Education.
Scholars will be invited to Washington, D.C. in June to receive the U.S. Presidential Scholars medallion at a recognition ceremony and to participate in various activities and events held in their honor.
Since 1964, this unique federal program has honored almost 7,500 of the nation’s top-performing students, who have demonstrated scholarship, leadership, artistic excellence, and selfless service to others. The work of the Commission on Presidential Scholars, on behalf of the President and his administration, reflects recognition of the immense value and potential of the nation’s youth, and a deep commitment to ensuring that every child in America receives the benefits of a world-class education.
For more information, visit www.ed.gov/psp.