Honoring the classroom all-stars

Christine Carrillo

Harvard or Stanford, Princeton or Yale, the Massachusetts Institute

of Technology or the U.S. Naval Academy -- these high school seniors

have a plethora of college paths to choose from.

Carrying grade point averages reaching beyond a 4.0 and a slew of

community service and extra curricular activities, Newport Beach’s

Academic All-Stars represented the cream of the academic crop.

During the 42nd annual Scholarship Awards Breakfast held Thursday

morning, the Newport Beach community recognized the top 15 students

from Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar high schools for their

numerous achievements.

“It’s a great opportunity to honor these students, who have

achieved so much in such a short period of time,” said Commodore Norm

Witt, of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce Commodores Club.

“We’re very honored to have hosted this.”

While the students showed excitement about the challenges that may

arise as they take the next step in their lives, many of them still

have decisions to make, such as where to go to college.

Sharon Fry, principal at Corona del Mar High, and Michael Vossen,

principal at Newport Harbor High, read off the names of one Ivy

League school after another as they gave brief bios of the award

winners.

“We need events like this to remind us why we’re here and what’s

important,” Vossen said.

“I can’t help but be amazed at all these students have

accomplished,” Fry said. “It makes me want to go back and try it

again and see if I can fit as much in 24 hours as they seem to do.”

For the students, all the long hours are sparked by personal

drive.

“The reality of the situation is, we’re passionate about [what we

do],” said Kellie Brownell, one of the senior scholars at Newport

Harbor. “If we’re smart about it, we’ll be able to work it into our

future.”