Seniors win cash to use for college

Attentiveness and hard work are keys to academic success, scholars say.
Seniors from high schools in Kinsman, Vienna, Youngstown, and Greenville, Pa., have won $2,500 National Merit college scholarships.
The winners announced this week, their high schools and probable career fields are: Hannah K. Miller, of Joseph Badger High School in Kinsman, public administration; Katherine D. Bradley, of Mathews High, Vienna, computer science; Daniel M. Rotar, of Cardinal Mooney, Youngstown, biochemistry; and Alan J. Hogan, of Greenville, software publishing.
Those four scholarships are being paid for through the National Merit Scholarship Corp.'s own funds.
Another senior at Greenville High School, Kyle R. King, whose goal is to become a college professor, won a corporate-sponsored Merit scholarship paid for by the PPG Industries Foundation.
Rotar, a son of Daniel and Patricia Rotar of Boardman, was the only Ohioan and one of 11 students nationwide to earn a perfect composite score of 36 on the ACT last September. He will go to the University of Notre Dame, where biochemistry is his likely major, he said.
"I like the feeling of the campus and the emphasis they place on education, and at the same time, it really seemed like a fun campus," he said of Notre Dame.
Advice for others
Rotar said he'd like to "do something within science, but turn it into an entrepreneurship kind of thing."
"Try to pay attention as well as you can during class and really take an interest in what you're doing. Don't just go through the motions. Try to be active in your education," he advised other students when asked about the secret of his academic success.
At Mooney, he is a member of the football, track and speech teams, National Honor Society, Service Club and Future Business Leaders of America. He is also a member of St. Charles Church, Boardman.
Bradley, of Vienna, a salutatorian, intends to major in computer science at the University of Akron. She's on the Academic Challenge team and a member of NHS, choir, drama and Key clubs at the high school.
The secret of her academic success: "I work hard, and I'm not satisfied with a half-hearted result. I always try to do my best on everything and put as much effort as I can into it."
A daughter of Carol Bradley and the late James Bradley, she takes classes both at Mathews and at Youngstown State University under the post-secondary educational options program. She is a member of Vienna United Methodist Church youth group.
"You can take that a lot of different directions," from medical to graphic design applications, Bradley said of the computer science field. "The job opportunities are just endless, no matter which way you want to go with it," said Bradley, who wants to become a software designer.
"I'm interested in computer science because I'm sort of a mathematics and an English personality. I like to do creative things, but I also like to do things where you have to think hard, and I thought that computer science would be a good blend of that," she explained. She added that she has enjoyed her computer science classes at YSU.
Valedictorian
Miller, of Kinsman, a valedictorian, plans to attend Denison University in Granville, where she plans an interdisciplinary major in philosophy, politics and economics. Her career goal is to manage a nonprofit social service agency.
Miller said she will seek a position "that involves public speaking, writing and working with community members."
Her high school extracurricular activities include soccer, the academic challenge team and the ski club, and she recently appeared in a high school musical production of "Beauty and the Beast." She has taken four years of Latin through the school's distance learning lab.
She is also a member of the youth group at St. Patrick Church in Kinsman and volunteers in the Tops Soccer program for disabled youth in Cortland.
Miller and Bradley have written for the teen section of the Tribune Chronicle.
Hogan, who is ranked first in his class and a likely valedictorian, is president of the computer club and a member of the high school cross-country team.
King, who will be salutatorian, has a strong interest in English literature and is a member of the high school tennis and golf teams. Hogan and King are members of National Honor Society.
The winners are among 2,500 distinguished high school seniors nationwide who have won National Merit Scholarships this year, having been chosen from about 15,000 finalists.
A committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors selected the winners based on their accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies.
Evaluations were based on difficulty of subjects studied, grades, standardized test scores, contributions and leadership in school and community activities, an essay describing the applicant's interests and goals, and a written recommendation from a high school official.
The initial screening was based on administration of the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test and National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test to 1.3 million juniors in nearly 21,000 American high schools in October 2004.