Gifted Mountain View Student Receives National Honor

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — A Mountain View girl is among 28 students nationwide recently announced as the Institute for Educational Advancement's 2017 class of award recipients of the Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship, a four-year high school scholarship for gifted learners to attend an optimally matched high school program to help them meet their unique intellectual and personal needs.

The scholarship program, which began in 2002 and is generously funded by The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, is one of the few merit-based, need-blind scholarships of its kind in the U.S.

Local award recipient Audrey Acken, of Mountain View, is currently an eighth-grader at The Nueva School. She enjoys designing and building things, with dreams of someday working for NASA.

"I'm super excited to be a CDB scholar this year," Audrey said. "It is such an honor but also very humbling."

While her favorite subjects are science, math and art, she says she just isn't sure yet what degree she'll pursue once in college.

Fortunately for Audrey and her fellow class of 2017 scholars, that decision is still a ways off. In the meantime, they'll receive guidance and assistance over the next few months from IEA staff, current CDB Scholars and CDB alumni in identifying potential high school programs, completing applications and preparing their individualized educational plan for next year.

“Gifted students are far more likely to actualize their intellectual and personal potential when their learning environments match their capabilities and address their individual challenges,” said Elizabeth Jones, President of IEA. “Thanks to the generosity of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, 28 gifted students of the Caroline D. Bradley (CDB) Scholar class of 2017 are assured a challenging and engaging learning environment to fuel their passion and support their advanced learning capacity.”

Students apply for the Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship in the seventh grade and are required to complete a rigorous application process, which includes essays, middle school transcripts, two recommendations and a work sample. Eligible applicants must also achieve scores at or above the 97th percentile on nationally normed standardized tests and score competitively with high school seniors on the SAT Reasoning or ACT tests.

Three regional Selection Committees comprised of a diverse group of school admissions directors, CDB alumni, university personnel and community and business leaders nationwide were tasked with choosing 55 finalists out of a pool of 386 applicants. This was the largest pool of applicants in the program’s history. Each of the 55 CDB Finalists, from which the 28 were chosen, met with CDB staff and CDB alumni for an interview.

2017 Caroline D. Bradley Scholars:

Audrey Acken, Mountain View, CA

Alondra Cardenas, Montebello, CA

Neil Chowdhury, Bellevue, WA

Andrew Chu, Palo Alto, CA

Graham Curtsinger, Verdigris, OK

Jacob David, Fort Worth, TX

Pascal Descollonges, Menlo Park, CA

Max Ehrlich, Eagan, MN

Rachel Faust, Bloomfield Hills, MI

Jake Payne Grodner, Los Angeles, CA

Leila Hardy, Lake Oswego, OR

Diamond Head, Wauconda, IL

Emma Hermacinski, Zionsville, IN

Lina Huang, San Dimas, CA

Steven Hwang, Corte Madera, CA

Storrie Kulynych-Irvin, Annapolis, MD

Alexander Miller, Vacaville, CA

Maxine Park, Hanover, NH

Alexander Popescu, Spokane, WA

Samuel Qin, Greer, SC

Gayatri Rajan, Mason, OH

Minki Shin, Studio City, CA

Josephine Stockton, Aurora, CO

Lily Wang, Foster City, CA

Diego West-Hedlund, San Francisco, CA

Thisbe Wu, New York, NY

Olivia Yang, Charlotte, NC

William Zhu, Lincolnshire, IL

“The Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship creates a life-changing experience that goes well beyond a high school scholarship,” said Byron Lichtenstein, CDB Alumni and IEA Board member. “Scholars receive support and counsel through high school and become part of a community of intellectual peers that they can rely on for support, shared information, and networking for the rest of their lives. This is a very exciting moment in these students’ lives.”

To date, IEA has awarded 263 scholarships to gifted learners. Currently there are 126 alumni, 89 of whom have graduated from college and are in the work force, attending graduate school and/or participating in international service and fellowship programs.

For more information about IEA and the Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship, visit Educationaladvancement.org. The application for the next class of scholars will be available this November.

Image via Pixabay