Classroom all-stars honored

Marisa O’Neil

Spending the morning at the Scholarship Awards breakfast is enough to

make anyone feel like an underachiever.

The 43rd annual breakfast, hosted by the Commodore’s Club of the

Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce, honors the top 15 seniors at

Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar high schools.

At Thursday’s breakfast, each student’s introduction read like a

laundry list of achievement -- grade-point averages above 4.0,

varsity sports, volunteerism, multiple Ivy League acceptance letters.

“It’s amazing,” said school board member Dave Brooks. “It’s so

good to see and hear all their achievements. They really carry the

flag for the rest of the district.”

The chamber selects the best of the best for recognition every

year. Proud parents and grandparents applauded loudly and snapped

photos as each child approached the stage for the honors.

Ally Stoltz and Victoria Swigart have been working toward the

awards breakfast for the last four years, hoping they’d make the cut.

Victoria’s brother, John, received the honors four years ago, as did

Ally’s neighbor.

“I remember seeing the award in the paper and I really wanted it,”

Ally said.

All of the students, like Corona del Mar senior Mikayel Currim,

had grade-point averages higher than 4.0. Taking advanced placement

classes, he said, can nudge averages up to 4.3 or higher.

Mikayel’s achievements, which include a perfect 1600 on his SAT, have left him with the tough task of choosing between Stanford and

Yale universities. However, he plans to follow his parents’ footsteps

and attend Stanford.

In fact, so many Corona del Mar seniors expressed intent to go to

Stanford, one audience member dubbed the university “Corona del Mar

North.”

Newport Harbor senior Adrienne Olson made her decision to attend

USC the night before the breakfast.

After the awards ceremony, she showed off a gift from someone in

the audience -- a bottle opener that played the school’s fight song.

But with all her studies and activities, including tennis team and

volunteering for the Assistance League she may not have the time to

put it to use.

“The more you do, the more you want to do everything well,” she

said.