Senior at LR school a Morehead scholar

Gordon “Miller” Wilbourn Jr., a senior at Episcopal Collegiate School in Little Rock, is one of 57 recipients of the Morehead-Cain Scholarship, which covers all expenses for four years of undergraduate study and summer enhancement at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Morehead-Cain Scholars are chosen solely on the basis of merit and accomplishment. Selection criteria include leadership, academic achievement, moral force of character and physical vigor, according the Morehead-Cain Foundation website. The scholarship program was founded in 1945 and is a model for other merit awards.

Wilbourn, the son of Penny and Gordon Wilbourn Sr .,is president of the student honor council at Episcopal Collegiate and helped start the school’s theological debate society. He is also a member of the school’s state championship track team, according to the scholarship foundation.

3 from state win Gates scholarships

Three Arkansas high school seniors, including two from Little Rock, are among the 1,000 national winners this year of the Gates Millennium Scholarships.

More than 52,000 students from across the nation applied for the award that enables recipients to attend any accredited college or university in the United States. The scholarships are renewable each year for those recipients that continue to meet eligibility requirements.

The three Arkansas students are Darryonna Armstrong from Little Rock’s McClellan High School, Chase Hall from Rogers High School and Jeremy Taylor from Lisa Academy charter school in Little Rock, according to the scholarship program website.

The scholarship program is for students who are members of specific racial and ethnic minority groups. Students must have at least a 3.3 grade point average, meet family income requirements, and show a record of community service and leadership.

6 Arkansans named award semifinalists

Six Arkansas high school seniors are among 565 students nationally to be named semifinalists in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program for 2014.

Later this spring, one young man and one young woman from each state, and possibly a third student who excels in the arts, will be selected from among the semifinalists. The scholars will be provided an expense-paid trip in June to Washington, D.C., where they will be honored at a White House ceremony.

Five of the six Arkansas semifinalists attend Little Rock schools. The Arkansas semifinalists are Yeongwoo Hwang of Jonesboro, Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts in Hot Springs; Abhilasha Gokulan, Little Rock Central High; Esther Park, Little Rock Central High; Kaitlyn Perreault, Little Rock Central High; Alexander Zhang, Little Rock Central High; and William Stewart, Little Rock Parkview Arts and Sciences High.

The scholars program was established in 1964 by executive order of the president to recognize and honor some of the nation’s most accomplished high school seniors. The program was later expanded to include students who have exceptional talent in the arts.

Arkansas, Pages 16 on 05/04/2014