Our Hometown
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Newark teen is Coca-Cola Scholar semifinalist
The program is open to high school seniors in 23,000 U.S. high schools. Coca-Cola Scholars come from all 50 states and more than one-third are minorities. Burgess, who wants to become a speech therapist, and whose grade point average is 97.28, hopes to attend either Nazareth College or SUNY Geneseo. She is active in extracurricular and community activities. She is a commentator during mass at St. Michael's Church and teaches children's liturgy there. She is editor of the NHS yearbook; president of National Honor Society; a member of Spanish Honor Society, SADD, Interact, Varsity and Youth-to-Youth clubs; and is a Link Crew leader and a member of the Senior Advisory Council. Burgess, who is also a member of the NHS Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band; the Varsity Girls Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Girls track teams, started a program called Run Your Life last year that has NHS girls runners once a week running with girls in grades 3-5 at Kelley School, who are also interested in running. The program was instituted to help boost the self-esteem of younger girls and help them to make healthy choices. Burgess, who last summer worked part time in the school district assisting Cheryl Van Harken, coordinator of the technology support services department in computer maintenance, volunteered during the previous two summers in the Perkins School summer school program. Since 1989, the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation has provided $1.8 million annually in awards to 250 high school seniors to help defray the costs of their college education. 'Maggie is a really great student and a great person and is very deserving of this honor,' NHS principal Kevin Whitaker said. 'The entire school community hopes she becomes a finalist.' All 250 finalists selected will be invited to Atlanta, where they will be interviewed to determine the level of their award. Fifty finalists will become national scholars and receive $20,000 awards; the remaining 200 will be designated as regional scholars and will each receive $4000.
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