Sterling Scholar, check. National Merit Scholar, check. Presidential Scholar, check, check, and check.
Hillcrest High’s Alexander Cheng has won the equivalent of the triple-crown of academic achievement, a feat matched by only one other student in Canyons District history: his brother, Anthony.
Throughout their educational careers, Alexander Cheng and Anthony Cheng broke educational ground with top awards at science fairs and other scholarly competitions. But the past few months have been particularly productive for Alexander, as were the culminating weeks leading up to his brother’s graduation in 2016.
A senior at Hillcrest who has been accepted to Stanford, Alexander Cheng was selected as a Regeneron Science Talent Search Scholar and a regional finalist in the national Coca-Cola scholarship. He also won first place in the Materials and Biomedical category at the University of Utah’s Science and Engineering Fair for his entry, “Determining the Role of Microvascular Pathology as Reflected by Changes in Primary and Secondary Retinal Vessels in the Pathophysiology of Diabetic Complications.”
In March, 2019, he won the science category of Utah’s Sterling Scholar Competition and, like his brother before him, was named the overall winner of the 57th annual competition. Now, to cap the year, he was named one of three U.S. Presidential Scholars from Utah, and announced as a 2019 National Merit Scholar.
Joining him in earning the National Merit Scholar distinction are two of his peers at Hillcrest, Emily Langie and Bryan Guo. Eighteen CSD students were named as semi-finalists in the prestigious scholarship competition, representing less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors. Presidential scholars are invited to name a distinguished teacher who supported them along the way, and Cheng chose Hillcrest’s International Baccaulareate coordinator John Olsen.
Each year, up to 161 students are named as Presidential Scholars, one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students. The White House chooses scholars based on their academic success, artistic and technical excellence, essays, school evaluations and transcripts, as well as evidence of community service, leadership and demonstrated commitment to high ideals.
Photo credit: The photo of Alexander Cheng receiving his Sterling Scholar award is courtesy of the Deseret News.
