10 Fort Bend students named U.S. Presidential Scholar candidates

Ten Fort Bend ISD students have been selected by the United States Department of Education as candidates for the United States Presidential Scholars Program.

Some 3,000 candidates for the Presidential Scholars program are selected each year for the academic component of the program, based on having scored exceptionally well on the SAT or the ACT assessment. To confirm their interest and assist in the selection process, candidates must submit required application materials.

The following Fort Bend ISD students have been selected as candidates: Hersh Agrawal, Nikita Kansra and Shrinidhi Rao, Travis High School; Steven Dao, Hightower High School; Kevin Fu and Sirui Lu, Clements High School; Rachel Hatton, Austin High School; Karthik Sethuraman and Yuxi Zhou, Clements High School; and Grant Yuan, Elkins High School.

Each year, up to 141 students are named as Presidential Scholars, one of the nation's highest honors for high school students. In honoring the Presidential Scholars, the President of the United States symbolically honors all graduating high school seniors.

The U.S. Presidential Scholars Program was established in 1964, by Executive Order of the President, to recognize and honor some of the nation's most distinguished graduating high school seniors. In 1979, the program was extended to recognize students who demonstrate exceptional talent in the visual, creative and performing arts.