Eisenhower High School student named semi-finalist in national program

It’s not every day someone from Lawton is a semi-finalist in a prestigious scholar program.

Grace Cho, a graduating senior at Eisenhower High School, was named a semi-finalist in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. Cho is one of 625 semi-finalists who were selected for the honor, although she was not named a finalist.

Cho doesn’t know if being a presidential scholar will have a direct impact on her goals, but she said it’s a notable honor to have on her resume and will help her network.

“Whenever you become a finalist, you get to go to Washington, D.C.,” Cho said. “There’s a ceremony and you meet the president.”

According to a press release, inclusion in the program is one of the highest honors bestowed upon graduating high school seniors. Scholars are selected based on their accomplishments in many areas, including academic and artistic success, accomplishments in career and technical fields, leadership, strong character, and involvement in school and the community.

Cho said in order to be selected as a candidate, one must be nominated based on their SAT or ACT scores. They then can apply and put down any community service or different extracurriculars to be assessed.

“I think my commitment to community service, teaching Korean at a local Korean school and teaching a free ACT prep course at my church, and different things like that showed different aspects of me and also my essays,” Cho said. “I’m really thankful for my counselor who pushed me to apply and my family and teachers for supporting me.”

Cho said the U.S. Department of Education nominates the top 20 percent of the ACT scores in each state.

“If you’re in that nomination, then you can just apply on your own,” Cho said. “But there are some parts where the teachers write your recommendation [and] the counselor has to put in different information about the students.”

A panel of educators reviewed the submissions and selected the semi-finalists. The finalists will be chosen by a group of up to 32 citizens appointed by the president in May, according to a press release. Cho said there are two finalists per state: a boy and a girl.

Cho plans to attend Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., to study biomedical engineering.

“I think it really shows how my time spent and doing all these things in high school paid off and I’m really honored to be able to represent Lawton and Eisenhower High School,” Cho said.