2008 Sterling Scholar winners

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Mar 27, 2008

"I plan to obtain a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from BYU. I will go on to receive a joint MBA/juris doctorate, lending me the business, legal and technical skills to handle my own startup businesses. "My greatest dream in entrepreneurship is to found a nonprofit mentoring organization for teenagers. This organization would partner teen entrepreneurs with volunteer businesspeople, accountants and attorneys, guiding them through the process of starting and running a business."

SCHOLARSHIP: Ranks 43 out of 531; overall GPA is 3.9; 33 composite ACT.

AWARDS AND PROJECTS: Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center chief technical officer; Forkaster publicity editor; consulting services; Student of the Month for Counseling and Business; National Merit Semifinalist; high honor roll; academic letters in German, math, English and Renaissance; Business Law Skill Certificate; IC3 Certification; trumpet section leader; BYU senior projects judicator; BusinessQ Rookie of the Year; journalism publicity editor; German National Honor Society; American Fork City Youth Council; Youth Committee Chairman.

- - - - -

SPEECH/DRAMA

Jesse Felice Pepe

Brighton High School

Parents: Philip Pepe and Sue Skudlarczyk

Sandy

"I find joy in living through performing. It is not because of talent or entertainment value that I find this joy, it is through the thought of what phenomenal accomplishments human beings can achieve when they work together as one. We are all diverse and all have immense differences that make us unique. Yet when we work together as one soul, there is no telling what magic and wonders we can create. I know it may seem like a stretch to compare performing on a stage to drastically important events such as the civil rights movement or American's struggle for independence, but in reality they are the same. People overcoming their differences and banding together for a common cause is phenomenally important within this world and my contribution to this wonderful aspect of life is by performing. Whether it is for theater or not, I know that I can make a difference. Together, upon a stage, we as actors are an unstoppable force that can speak the thoughts that sometimes no one would dare say and could kindle a fire within the beholders that would change their lives, and mine, forever.

"Last year, while polishing our competition piece for the regional competition, 'Bang Bang You're Dead,' there was a tragic incident in one of our downtown malls. One of the individuals who lost her life happened to be a good friend within the entire theater program who loved to perform and always had a smile on her face. She was one of those people who made everyone around her happy. We were all devastated. Her untimely death made us work even harder to get our message across within our play, which was ironically about violence and school shootings. I have never felt a group of people pull together and unify so emphatically. Our performances were spectacular. Over and over again we left that stage knowing we had moved our audience; we had changed them. I knew, then and there, that performing is not merely a hobby, but a way of life."