Nevada students score national honors

Friday, April 26, 2002 | 2:08 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: April 27, 2002

CARSON CITY -- Several Nevada high school students have garnered national and state honors.

Kris L. Prado, who attends Durango High School in Las Vegas, has been selected by the state Department of Education as one of the two outstanding high school seniors to represent Nevada at the 2002 National Youth Science Camp.

Prado and Desiree Hernandez of Yerington High School will receive a four-week expense paid trip to attend the camp starting June 27 at Bartow in the mountains of eastern West Virginia. The camp includes lectures and hands-on research projects presented by scientists; three overnight expeditions into the nearby Monongahela National Forest and a visit to Washington, D.C.

The delegates were chosen for their high academic achievement in science and their leadership at their schools and in their communities.

The Education Department also announced that four students from high schools in Clark County have been selected as semifinalists in the 2002 Presidential Scholars Program.

The program recognizes some of the nation's most distinguished graduating high school seniors. Up to 141 students are named each year. There were 500 selected as semifinalists.

The Nevada semifinalists are Anita Batra and Matthew Swetnam, both of The Meadows School in Las Vegas; Dina Wallin of Bishop Gorman High School; and Zachary Hale of Green Valley High School in Henderson.

The other Nevada student is Karen Brigham of McQueen High School in Reno.

The winners are chosen on academic and artistic success, leadership and involvement in school and the community.

Meanwhile, two other local students will attend a summer program sponsored by the Presidential Scholars program.

Paul John "PJ" Gorre II and Abigail Celemin, both juniors at Clark High School, will attend the Presidential Classroom Scholars Program from June 8-15 in Washington, D.C.

Presidential Classroom, the nation's leading civic education program, gives high school juniors and seniors an introduction on how the federal government works.

The week's activities will include visiting senators and representatives' offices and observing congressional meetings. Other program highlights include a CIA briefing, a mock presidential election with student candidates and a visit to the White House.