Stephanie Fortune nominated as U.S. Presidential Scholar

by Rich Rosentreter

Local Tupper Lake High School senior Stephanie Fortune was recently notified by state Assemblyman Billy Jones that she was nominated by his office to be a United States Presidential Scholar, which is a program established in 1964 that honors high school seniors for their accomplishments.

Every year, approximately 4,000 high school seniors across the entire country are nominated to apply to be candidates in the program and only a fraction of those - up to 161 - are eventually given the honor, which is one of the nation’s highest for high school students. Once nominated, each student is sent an application to enroll for the program and then the final selections are made as to who makes the grade of being a Presidential Scholar. Fortune told the Free Press on Monday that she plans to follow through on that process.

Being nominated

High school guidance counselor Lisa Gillis said that she was contacted around October by Assemblyman Jones’ office and asked to select one or more TLHS students for the honor.

“Once they told me what type of student they were looking for, Stephanie was the first one who came to my mind,” Mrs. Gillis said. “She’s motivated, she’s bright, she takes all the accelerated classes. She goes over and above what we expect of her.”

Mr. Gillis said that it wasn’t just Miss Fortune’s academics that make he stand out, but her motivation and level of involvement in extras-curricular activities.

“The one thing that really stood out to me was the she decided she was going to take the AP physics exam in May in her junior year, which is pretty ambitious in of itself, but we don’t offer that class here so she had to study by herself independently. That’s just the kind of student she is. She is also a talented athlete, a talented musician. You name it.”

Among Stephanie’s activities are: being a member of the National Honor Society; playing on the school’s soccer, basketball and track teams; a member of the student counsel; a writer for the The Lumberjack Lyre, the student newspaper; performs in school musicals; volunteers as a member of St. Alphonsus Church; and figure skates and organizes children at the Tupper Lake Skating Club.

Mrs. Gillis said she submitted the names of two students, and it was Stephanie who was selected by the assemblyman.

Stephanie said that she was both excited and surprised to learn the she was chosen to be among a select few, but that was not the emotion caused by the prestigious occasion.

Confusion

Adding a bit of intrigue to the moment was that both Mrs. Gillis and Miss Fortune, prior to learning about the nomination, neither had even heard of the Presidential Scholar Program, and each had to investigate whether or not it was legitimate or they were being scammed.

“I had never heard about this program before so I wasn’t too sure what to do,” Mrs. Gills said, adding that in all her years as a guidance counselor – about 30 years – she had never encountered a student being nominated for the honor. She said that everything started when she received an email from Assemblyman Jones. “That’s when I found out about the program in general. He told a little about the program, so I knew what the criteria was when I nominated a student.”

As for Stephanie, she was probably more surprised as she became enlightened about the program.

“I didn’t know about it until I was called on the phone and even after that I had to research it myself,” she said, adding that it took a while for the magnitude of the honor to sink in. “Because I didn’t know about it or what it was, I was really confused. I was more confused than surprised.”

“I was definitely excited when I realized what it was. It’s nice to be recognized for all of the hard work I’ve done in high school,” she said, adding that her mother had a more excited reaction. “It’s not that I wasn’t excited but my mom was more excited than me! She was like jumping up and down.”

As for the guidance counselor, she said her reaction was that of pride.

“I was obviously pleasantly surprised although not that surprised that they recognized Stephanie’s talents and abilities. I am super proud of her,” she said.

The school guidance counselor also discussed the example that Stephanie sets and one upcoming opportunity to do just that. Fortune was recently chosen to speak at the Junior Honor Society Induction this week and address the 7th and 8th grade students being inducted.

“She told me that she didn’t know what to say,” Mrs. Gillis said. “I told her to just talk about all the things she has done to get her to where she is such as doing community service and keeping her grades up.”

Next step

According to the Presidential Scholar website, the list of nominees gradually gets withered down as the approximately 500 semifinalists are chosen by an independent, national committee of educators convened by the Commission on Presidential Scholars. Then 6 to 20 semifinalists are chosen for each state or jurisdiction by the review committee. Finally in April, the Commission on Presidential Scholars makes the final selection of the 161 students.

Stephanie said that she will not be too upset if she doesn’t make the final cut as just being nominated makes her feel satisfied.

“I think it’s enough of a recognition. If I go further, I’d be happy, but I don’t think it’s something that needs to happen,” she said, adding that being recognized at a small school was one of the biggest surprises to her. “I think that’s one of the more shocking things. It’s cool because most people don’t even know where Tupper Lake is and it’s nice to have our name circulating a little bit.”

Mrs. Gillis agreed that just being nominated is a huge deal and can have a positive impact on Stephanie’s future.

“There is no monetary gain,” she said of being a Presidential Scholar. “It’s more like recognition and I just might open some doors for other scholarships.”

Of course Stephanie said she is pleased knowing that all her hard work in school has been justified.

“It could be stressful at times and it’s hard to juggle, but it’s good to know that it means something,” the teenager said. “Having the nomination now reminds me to stay focused and maintain all the work I’ve been doing. I definitely feel I have to keep trying hard.”

She also said she hopes that others will take note of how hard work can pay off.

“I feel that it’s best to lead by example and keep what I’m doing and hopefully others will learn from that,” she said, offering her advice to other students. “I would definitely say do get involved in as much as you can without overwhelming yourself and prioritize schoolwork and you can do everything you want as long as you work hard.”

According to Miss Fortune, this latest honor hasn’t had her change her plans for the future. Her plan is to attend college and study civil engineering.

Her efforts did not go unnoticed by High School Principal Russell Bartlett who said he too is extremely proud of Stephanie and is pleased such an honor was bestowed upon a student at TLHS.

“It’s a great thing. I don’t know that there’s been another kid from Tupper Lake nominated for this honor. She’s a great kid. She’s well-rounded, she’s not just some academic star, she’s athletic and does every little extra-curricular thing. She’s one of those kids who attacks school with gusto and gets everything out of it that she can get,” he said. “It’s awesome and I’m super proud.”