Sol Kim ’23 was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the general academics track, an honor bestowed to 161 high schoolers by the Department of Education annually. Every year, select students are nominated based on their academic achievement and test scores, artistic talent, and technical achievement to be nominated as a Presidential Scholar.
According to the Department of Education, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the U.S. Presidential Scholar program in 1964 to honor outstanding achievements in academics. Since then, the program was expanded with two additional “tracks,” recognizing students who demonstrate exceptional talent in the visual, creative, and performing arts, as well as career and technical education. Every year, over 4,500 students apply as candidates for the distinction, with only 121 being selected in the academic track, and the remaining 40 spots going to students in the arts and technical fields.
Kim reflected on the application process itself and his initial thoughts. According to Kim, he was originally nominated for his test scores on the Standardized Admissions Test, or SAT, which made him eligible to apply.
“Nomination occurs through the state, with the top twenty boys and top twenty girls that score top -0 scores on the standardized testing automatically getting nominated. And I got an email, kind of this formal email out of nowhere, saying I got nominated, and I should apply. The application process was really similar to a college application where I had submitted my grades, my activities, recommendations, and essays and then they went through the process like that,” said Kim.
Presidential Scholars are announced mid-May, following an application review starting in February. According to Kim, after being nominated he didn’t originally expect to be selected but was positively surprised and excited to receive the news of the distinction.
“I feel really lucky to have the honor, and I was just really surprised when I first got the award. It felt really good, especially because I thought there was no chance that I would get selected. I thought it was nice to be nominated, but I thought that was it,” said Kim.
Dr. Donald Slater, PhD, Instructor in History and Social Sciences, taught Kim in History 300. Slater spoke on the achievements and contributions Kim brought to his class, as well as the dedication and hard work he demonstrated.
“Sol is a hard-working self-starter, so supporting him was easy. He is the type of student who relishes the intellectual challenge of a research project and I always enjoyed [it] when he would come to me to discuss new sources and [develop] ideas. I was impressed to hear that Sol was chosen as a President Scholar, but zero percent surprised. Based on Sol’s performance as a student at Andover, as well as his presence and contributions as a community member, I feel that the honor is most well-deserved.”
Another Faculty Mentor of Kim, Derek Curtis, highlighted the qualities that Kim demonstrated beyond the classroom. Curtis, who taught Kim as his Religion and Philosophical Studies Instructor, spoke on how Kim exemplifies traits valued in the Andover community, such as non sibi and knowledge and goodness.
“While it’s a cliche to talk about non sibi and knowledge and goodness, in some ways, I know that the students often refer to those as slogans. Sol strikes me as a person that’s really internalized those ideals both academically and in his social life and how he thinks about politics. So it’s not a surprise to me at all in some ways that Sol won something like this. I’m just very happy for him because it’s nice to see people be rewarded for the actual work that they’ve put in and the person that they are,” said Curtis.
