IUSD in the News: More than a third of OC's Presidential Scholar hopefuls are from Irvine

Of the 27 Orange County high school seniors selected as candidates in the 2012 U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, it turns out no fewer than 10 are from schools in IUSD.

Across the U.S., 3,000 students were recently named candidates in the program for producing perfect or near-perfect scores on the SAT and ACT, while another 60 received the honor for exhibiting exceptional talent in the visual, creative and performing arts, according to Scott Martindale of the Orange County Register. The 2012 candidates include Emily Chen, Johanna E. Lee, Vishaal Prasad, Timothy D. Tang and Bill Yeh of Irvine High School; Janice Y. Gan of Northwood High School; Alexander Lin, Anthony J. Su and Jessica Zou of University High School; and Christina L. Kong of Woodbridge High School. Following a rigorous application process, up to 141 students will ultimately be announced as Presidential Scholars in May. That’s among the highest distinctions possible for high schoolers. But, as Martindale reports, just being a candidate places you in some rarified air, as only a tenth of 1 percent earn the honor nationally. You can find the full story here. Inventions astound at IVC Also posted on the Register website is a story from the 25th annual Astounding Inventions competition. The event, which showcased the creative inventions of about 435 students from Irvine and Tustin, was held Saturday at Irvine Valley College. The Register’s Elysse James has that story here.