This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Mercy Student is a 2013 Governor's Scholars Award Recipient

Emily Hall a student at Mercy High School in Middletown, was selected as one of thirty of Connecticut’s top juniors designated as a Governor’s Scholar. Sponsored by the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS), the purpose of the program is to recognize academically talented high school students in schools throughout the state, and present thirty students for special recognition to the Governor of Connecticut. All principals of CAS member high schools are given the opportunity to nominate one junior ranked in the top five percent of his/her class. An essay was prepared by each candidate based on the following question: “Since President Obama has been elected to a second term of office, what three major issues do you think should be addressed nationally and internationally, and why? Members of the Governor’s Scholars Committee, professional educators from throughout Connecticut, judge the completed applications and assign a composite score to each rank in class, PSAT or SAT scores, CAPT scores for public school candidate, and the student essay.

 All students recognized for this prestigious award were honored at the Seventeenth Annual Governor’s Scholars Luncheon which was held at the Aqua Turf in Southington on May 16th. Governor Dannel P. Malloy was present at the event and served as the keynote speaker. Mark Dixon, Meteorologist at WFSB Eyewitness News 3, was the Master of Ceremonies.

 Emily is the daughter of Matthew and Elizabeth Hall of Clinton. She is an active member in her local and school community as a volunteer for various service organizations benefiting causes such as breast cancer and Parkinson’s disease research as well as religious education. Currently, she is in the midst of introducing a service fair at Mercy High School to connect students to service organizations of interest to them. Emily was recently elected as captain of Mercy’s Mock Trial Team for the 2013-2014 school year. In addition, she is member of the Transfer Transition Team, National Honor Society, and the Golf Team. Last summer, she attended that National Youth Leadership Forum on Law and CSI in Washington, D.C. in order to learn more about the American justice system. In the future, she plans to attend college and law school before becoming a criminal or constitutional lawyer.

 Each honoree received a plaque designating him/her a Connecticut 2013 Governor’s Scholar as well as a check for $300 from CAS. Thirty-two of Connecticut’s colleges and universities also support this program by making gratis college level courses available to the thirty scholars. The University of Connecticut offers an Academic Excellence Scholarship for each of four academic years (8 full semesters of undergraduate work) currently valued at $5,000 a year, to all freshmen Governor’s Scholars enrolled for the fall 2014 entering class.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?