Top high school seniors: talented youths have high GPAs and aspirations - profiles of 24 students

Ebony, June, 1993 by Lisa C. Jones

READY to tackle life's next challenge, this year's pick of top high school seniors is a diverse collection of talents, backgrounds and regions. Though many of these African-American teens come from communities that are threatened by drugs, gangs and violence, they have made achievement, involvement and positive leadership their central goals.

Recommended by school boards, principals and high school counserlors, the 24 students featured here are a mere sampling of the thousands of outstanding African-American students who fill the nation's classrooms. They were selected on the basis of academic excellence, community involvement and overall leadership capabilities.

Some of these students have traveled extensively to places such as Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Many speak several languages, including Chinese, Latin and Arabic. And most already have college credits earned through rigorous advanced placement class programs taken in high school.

But their dedication to excellence does not cease at the classroom door. Some hold prestigious offices in student government organizations. Some have been designated scholar athletes, winning blue ribbons and trophies in basketball, softball and cross-country track, while yet others have won awards for essays, and a wide range of projects and presentations.

All of them defy the stereotype that says today's youngsters belong to the selfish "Me generation," for they define part of their success by what they have been able to give back to their communities. Most have volunteered hundreds of hours cleaning up riot-stricken neighborhoods, tutoring the young, collecting canned goods for the needy and visiting the elderly.

This fall, after earning more than $100,000 between them to attend choice Black colleges and universities, state and elite Ivy League schools, they will continue to seek out more challenges and look for other causes to claim as their own.