From Myrtle Beach to DC: Local student receives national academic award
Being diligent as an all-around person and in academics is how a Myrtle Beach senior at Scholars Academy was named a 2019 U.S. Presidential Scholar.
Dash Stevanovich is one of four students from South Carolina to become a Presidential Scholar, and will receive recognition in Washington, D.C. next month along with other students from around the country.
“It feels pretty amazing — something that’s quite exciting,” said Stevanovich, who turns 17 years old Saturday.
More than 5,200 students qualified for this year’s awards based on SAT and ACT exams or by being nominated, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Education. This year, 161 seniors are being recognized for their accomplishments in academics, arts and career and technical fields, which includes a boy and girl from each state, D.C., Puerto Rico and U.S. families living abroad, and 15 students chosen at large, 20 scholars in the arts and 20 scholars in career and technical education.
Stevanovich, who is the son of Mark Stevanovich and Stephanie Miller, will attend Yale University next academic year to study math. His goal is to get a doctorate in mathematics and become a professor of math, he said.
For the last four years, he has studied at the Scholars Academy, a four-year public school partnership between Horry County Schools and Coastal Carolina University. He gives credit to his guidance counselor and math teachers for encouraging him in high school, but says his achievement isn’t rare for those who attend his school.
“Nothing I did is out of the ordinary at scholar’s academy,” he said. “There are some amazing people here... And there’s a lot of people here to help you out.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2019 at 2:42 PM.
