Students

Two Apollo High School students have earned recognition from the National Merit Scholarship Program. Grant Todd and Ashley Warren were named 2005-06 National Merit Commended Students.

Grant is the son of Obbie and Trisha Todd. He is a member of the National Honor Society, Beta Club, Christian Student Involvement, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Apollo football and track teams. Grant is an active member of the youth group at his church.

Ashley is the daughter of Sharon Warren and Vaughn Warren and is a member of the National Honor Society, Beta Club and Advance Chorus at Apollo. She is an Eaglette and is an active member of her church youth group.

These two students will be recognized by the DCPS Board of Education at their October meeting. Congratulations and best wishes to these students as they continue to develop their outstanding academic promise!

DCPS announces National Merit Finalists

The Daviess County Public Schools district has announced that three students from Apollo and Daviess County high schools have been named National Merit Scholarship Program Finalists and were awarded Certificates of Merit. These students are among 15,000 finalists who were selected for this honor from approximately 1.3 million eligible high school students from across the country. The Merit Program, conducted by the National Merit Scholarship Corp., will select 8,200 students as Merit Scholarship winners in the 2005-06 competition.

Fewer than 1 percent of each state’s high school seniors achieve this designation, which is based on their scores on the 2004 PSAT/NMSQT test. This test was administered to more than one million entrants to the 2006 Merit Program. Finalists will continue in competition for National Merit Scholarships and other scholarships sponsored by colleges and corporations in conjunction with the Merit program.

The following Apollo High School students represent Daviess County Public Schools as 2005-2006 National Merit Finalists:

Ian Wilkey, son of Russ and Amy Fredrickson-Wilkey. Ian is a member of the Apollo High School Academic and Math teams and the National Honor Society. He serves as vice-president of the Spanish National Honor Society. His volunteer service has included work with the Spanish Cultural Fair and missions work in Denver, where he worked with children who were victims of abuse; and Honduras, where his team built homes for three Honduran families, including digging trenches and installing pipelines for plumbing, using picks and shovels.

These students will be recognized at the March 16 meeting of the Daviess County Board of Education. Their names have been inscribed on a plaque that is on permanent display in the board room at the district’s Central Office.

Apollo senior named National Achievement Scholar finalist

Michael Branden Payton, a senior at Apollo High School, has been named a finalist in the National Achievement Scholarship Program, conducted by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Branden was named one of 1,600 semifinalists in September 2005 and is now one of 1,300 finalists from across the country who will advance in competition for approximately 800 Achievement Scholarship awards to be presented to academically promising black American students in the spring.

Branden, son of Carman and Conrad Francis of Owensboro, was named a finalist on the basis of academic excellence, participation in school and community activities, a personal essay and faculty recommendation. Scholarship winners will be judged on their achievements and potential for academic success in college.

Branden maintains a 3.3 grade point average in Apollo High School’s rigorous International Baccalaureate Degree Programme. While attending Apollo, he has been a member of the academic, math and quick recall competition teams, Science Olympiad, Young Democrats, orchestra and intramural basketball. Awards have included medals in the Science Olympiad, Brescia University Math/Science Competition and a science award in the Pennyrile Academic Competition.

He plans to major in genetics in college, working toward a career goal as a forensic scientist.