by Brenda McDonald, MSU Communications Services

In a word, "Wow." That's how many Montana State University faculty and administrators describe Presidential Scholars.

"It's humbling how bright these kids are," said Anne Camper, MSU College of Engineering associate dean who has served twice on the Presidential Scholarship selection committee. "They're inspiring. They're just incredible."

MSU's Presidential Scholars are students who go on to win prestigious and nationally recognized Goldwater Scholarships, Truman Scholarships, Rhodes Scholarships, Mitchell Scholarships and National Science Foundation Fellowships, to name a few.

Since 1986 the MSU Presidential Scholarship Program has been MSU's answer to the Montana high school "brain drain."

The Presidential Scholarship is described as MSU's most prestigious scholarship award that recognizes academic achievement as well as special personal qualities. The scholarship is merit-based and all but one have no restrictions regarding area of study. Up to 20 Presidential Scholarships are awarded each year to freshmen entering MSU. The most recent recipients received an annual stipend of $2,500 plus a tuition waiver, with the scholarship renewable for four years.

In 1998 the Student Guide to America's Best College Scholarships named the Presidential Scholarship as one of the top scholarships in the nation.

"The scholarships are not only awarded to honor past achievements, but also as investments in the future," notes University Honors Program Director Victoria O'Donnell, whose office administers the scholarship program. "The Presidential Scholarship committee looks for qualities such as intelligence, self-reliance, energy, imagination, originality and concern for others."

Samantha Allen, a junior majoring in nursing and a Presidential Scholar, embodies concern for others in her plans for the future. As an enrolled member of the Assiniboine tribe on the Ft. Belknap reservation, she wants to use her love of research to delve into the mysteries of diabetes, a disease that is prevalent among American Indians. But she also thinks that she might become a nurse practitioner so she can return to her home reservation "to help my people with their health care."

Presidential Scholar David Owenby, a senior from Dillon majoring in electrical engineering, is imaginative. "I've always liked to take things apart to find out how they worked," he said. "I'd take apart my mom's toaster, fix it and then put it back together. I'd take apart anything I could get my hands on and sometimes I took apart things that I shouldn't."

O'Donnell, who has directed the Presidential Scholarship Program since 1993, speaks passionately about the talent that she has seen in the Presidential Scholars over the years. She mentions Anneke Morgan Majors, whom she describes as a "wonderful poet." Morgan Majors, a senior majoring in art, has presented her poetry twice at the National Collegiate Honors Council.

"I've been writing poetry seriously since I came to college and was exposed to a lot of literature, particularly through the 'Text and Critics' class," said Morgan Majors.

"Text and Critics" is offered to students in MSU's honors program. It's a small discussion-style class that encourages students to form and voice their interpretations and opinions of various written works. All Presidential Scholars are enrolled in the honors program.

Greg Young, vice provost of undergraduate education and former head of MSU's music department, also has served on the selection committee several times and notes that a majority of Presidential Scholars are talented musically. "I think that about 75 percent of the scholars are in the top musical ensembles in their high schools."

Keely Obert, an incoming freshman Presidential Scholar from Helena, has a passion for music and drafting. "The music program in my high school increased my love of drafting." But probably her biggest passion is roller coasters. Obert plans to major in civil engineering with the intention of becoming a structural engineer who designs roller coasters. Ever since a ride on the rollercoaster "Apollo's Chariot" in eighth grade, this former acrophobic has been dazzled by the math and science that goes into designing roller coasters.

"I have roller coaster plans on my home computer," she said. "I have books on roller coasters, and I ride as many roller coasters as I can."

Presidential Scholar Brian Brush, a senior majoring in architecture, is taking his love of distance running and turning that into a possible quest for a spot on the U.S. Olympic cross country ski team.

When Brush came to MSU from Oregon he didn't know how to ski. He picked skiing up through MSU classes and found he had a talent for it.

"Then I saw the cross country skiing during the Olympics in Salt Lake City," he said. "It inspired me to start training seriously. I wanted to be a part of something that would be greater than myself." Last winter he skied competitively in eight to 10 races.

"I want to work my way up to be a top collegiate racer." Right now he skis in the 10-25 kilometer races and plans to work up to the 30-50 kilometer marathon races. The application process for the Presidential Scholarship is extensive. The scholarship requires a cumulative GPA of at least 3.75 and a composite score of 30 on the ACT or 1320 on the SAT, an original essay on a prescribed topic and letters of recommendation. Finalists are invited to campus for interviews with the Presidential Scholarship committee.

This year there were some 160 applicants. Forty of the applicants were invited to come to campus for the one-on-one interviews with the committee. The interviews last 15 minutes and take place over a day and a half.

"The committee tries to get a sense of who the student is," O'Donnell said. "I always meet with the students before the interviews and tell them to 'be yourself.'" The campus visit is also about recruitment. "With these exceptional students we're also competing with many other universities."

It's an element of campus life that makes some of the Presidential Scholars decide to come to MSU. O'Donnell says that current Presidential Scholars take the candidates to classes on campus and to meetings with faculty members. "Some of the students say that MSU was the only university where faculty members were willing to sit down and talk to them."

Sara Nichols from Idaho Falls, Idaho, a senior majoring in biotechnology, had no intention of coming to MSU, until she fell in love with the Quads. The Alfred Atkinson quadrangle (Quads) is a series of Tudor-style buildings completed in 1935 to provide housing for women students. Each building houses 20 students who live like family with a common kitchen and dining room.

The MSU Honor's program works to house as many of its students in the Quads as possible.

"My brother and sister were both Presidential Scholars and students at MSU," Nichols said. "Being the rebel in the family, I was determined that I would go elsewhere."

She looked at 15 other campuses in the Northwest trying to find a housing experience that would be similar to the Quads. She didn't find it. "You have this entire house to take care of," she said. "I've made friends there that I'll have for the rest of my life."

O'Donnell and Associate Director Michael Miles maintain a close connection to the Presidential Scholars during their time on campus and beyond. "They know they can come in and visit with me," she said. "We establish a relationship even from the first interview." She spends a lot of time writing letters of recommendation for the students as they go off to graduate school and she sees many when they return to campus on vacations.

O'Donnell says it's "astounding all the things they (the students) do."

"They're just wonderful people," she observes. "Overall, they're a highly motivated group. They want to achieve, to succeed and to give of themselves."

Incoming freshman Presidential Scholar Will Bauerle from Missoula says, "I want to achieve. I've always been driven to succeed."

Says O'Donnell, "I tell the students when they get here that they don't have to go in any particular direction, but they should go in a direction that satisfies."

"They're just wonderful people. Overall, they're a highly motivated group. They want to achieve, to succeed and to give of themselves." Victoria O'Donnell University Honors Program director

For more information on the Presidential Scholarship Program, visit www.montana.edu/honors or call 406-994-4110.

Presidential scholars at top of page (L to R) Samantha Allen, David Owenby, Anneke Morgan Majors, Keely Obert, Brian Brush, Sara Nichols and Will Bauerle (Photos by Jeannine Lintner).