Four YSHS seniors recognized

Yellow Springs High School class of 2007 National Merit honorees, from left, Megan Kaplon, Peter Keahey, and Lara -Donnelly, were recognized for outstanding performance on the pre-SAT. Not pictured is Rosa Dixon.

By Virgil Hervey

Four Yellow Springs High School seniors have been recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation for their performance on last year’s preliminary SAT/National Merit scholarship qualifying test, a test which serves as an initial screening of approximately 1.4 million entrants each year. About 50,000 of those with the highest scores qualify for recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program. In early September, about 16,000 students were notified that they qualified as semifinalists.

Among those notified was YSHS senior Lara Donnelly. Donnelly plays the oboe and bass guitar and plays on the girls varsity soccer team. She enjoys the arts, creative writing and drama. As a junior at last spring’s awards ceremony, she received a Mary Jane Bachtel award for creative writing. She recently received a writing award from the National Council of Teachers of English, and in a recent interview she thanked her English teachers, Aurelia Blake, Desiree Nickell and Elizabeth Lutz-Hackett.

Lara attended the Yellow Springs public schools since first grade, after having gone to preschool and kindergarten at the Antioch School. After graduation, she will attend either the Savannah College of Art and Design or Yale University in preparation for becoming a concept artist for sets and video games. She is the daughter of Debra Wilburn and Richard Donnelly.

Peter Keahey was named an outstanding National Achievement Participant. He is also considering Savannah and Yale as well as Pratt University. Keahey is interested in animation and graphic design. Wherever he ends up going to college, he said, the college must offer him the opportunity to study abroad, as he would like to include that experience in his artwork.

Peter, a member of the National Honor Society, participates in theater and orchestra at YSHS. He is the Class of 2008 president and a member of the tennis team. Last year he assisted music teacher Yvonne Wingard in teaching violin to Mills Lawn students.

He has attended Yellow Springs schools since kindergarten and is the son of Justeen and Harvis Keahey. He cites Mills Lawn teacher Jodi Pettiford as his biggest influence.

Recognized as Commended Students in the National Merit Scholarship Program were Megan Kaplon and Rosa Dixon.

Kaplon, the daughter of Judy Parker and Mike Kaplon, moved to Yellow Springs, her mother’s home town, from Johnson City, Tenn., at the start of her junior year. She was nominated for a Wendy’s High School Heisman scholar athlete award at last year’s spring awards ceremony. Megan plays on the varsity volleyball and soccer teams and has participated in school plays at YSHS as a tech person and as a stage manager. She is interested in attending Swarthmore College, Carnegie Mellon or Oberlin.

Dixon, who attended the Antioch School through sixth grade, graduated from YSHS last year as an accelerated student. She is currently attending Ohio Wesleyan, and is the daughter of Nancy and Gary Dixon.

About half of the finalists receive some kind of a scholarship, either from the National Merit Corporation itself, from participating corporations, or from the college the student will be attending, according to YSHS Guidance Counselor Dave Smith.

Contact: vhervey@ysnews.com