Golden Apple: State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson selected two California high school students to the highly competitive United States Senate Youth Program, including Mira Loma High School student Josephine Kao.
Torlakson selected Kao and Deeksha Goyal of Redlands East Valley High School in San Bernardino County for their "outstanding scholastic achievement, leadership qualities and strong commitment to their schools and communities," according to a press release from the California Department of Education.
Two alternates - Anna Page of San Diego and Stefano Rumi of Los Angeles - were also selected.
"I'm amazed at what these four outstanding young people have accomplished," Torlakson said in a press release. "They are among California's - as well as the nation's - top scholars, and I applaud their achievements, both inside and outside the classroom."
Kao, who lives in Roseville, was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to be the student board member of the California State Board of Education.
She is a synchronized figure skater with a 4.83 weighted grade point average, a former president and current commissioner on the Placer County Youth Commission; speech captain of the nationally acclaimed Mira Loma Speech and Debate Team; second-place winner at the 2012 California State Speech Tournament for Original Oratory; teen councilmember of the Roseville Teen Library Council; outreach manager and grant writer for the Arden Creek Project Natural Resources (internship) and founder of the local Literacy is for Everyone!
Kao plays the harp as a volunteer for the Kaiser Permanente Spiritual Healing Program. She plans to pursue economics and international relations in college.
"I am interested in pursuing a career that will incorporate my love for motivational public speaking, global economic development, and research," she wrote in her USSYP application. "It is a goal of mine to one day start a nonprofit organization that supports educational opportunities for youth in developing nations."
High school principals nominate students for the Senate Youth Program. Students are then reviewed by a state Department of Education committee and sent to Torlakson for selection.
For more information on the U.S. Senate Youth Program, click HERE.
Loretta Kalb started her reporting career at The Sacramento Union, moved to KOVR-13 as a television reporter, editor and producer, headed to The Associated Press in San Francisco and eventually returned to Sacramento and joined The Sacramento Bee. Throughout her career, she has covered the state Legislature, courts, local government and, now, education. She is a Chico native and an Elk Grove resident.
Diana Lambert began her journalism career as a proofreader at the Lodi News-Sentinel. She is now a senior writer at The Sacramento Bee covering K-12 education and California State University, Sacramento. Previously she was The Bee’s Elk Grove bureau chief. Lambert was raised in a military family and lived at bases around the globe. She attended four high schools, graduating from Tokay High in Lodi and then Sacramento State University. She lives in Elk Grove.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.