Honors keep coming
Cedar Creek student Devika Dua
Add another honor to Devika Dua’s long list of academic achievements.
The Cedar Creek School senior has been named a candidate in the 2023 U. S. Presidential Scholars Program.
Inclusion in the program is one of the highest honors bestowed upon graduating high school seniors. This select group of more than 5,000 candidates were chosen from among nearly 3.6 million students expected to graduate this year.
Dua is no stranger to being named to select groups and achieving rare honors.
This past fall she was named a National Merit Semifinalist. Not long before that, she was selected as one of two Louisiana Senators in the 75th American Legion Auxiliary Girls Nation session.
In 2019 Dua was one of just six students from the state to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Being named a candidate is the first round of cuts in the Presidential Scholars Program that will eventually whittle down to as many as 161 Presidential Scholars.
Scholars are selected “on the basis of superior academic and artistic achievements, leadership qualities, strong character and involvement in community and school activities,” according to a press release.
Dua is the current Louisiana DECA Vice President of Leadership, an AP Scholar with distinction and founded the Cedar Creek Medical Club.
She has held STEM inter nships with Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island, New York and Louisiana Tech’s Cellular Neuroscience Lab. She has presented research at the national Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting, where she earned second place.
Dua is the daughter of Tech professors Prerna and Sumeet Dua of Ruston.
With a penchant for community service, Dua created a local environmental advocacy project called ECOTOTE, which brings the Ruston community together to paint and use tote bags instead of plastic bags at local grocery stores.
An educator panel will review the candidate submissions and select approximately 600 semifinalists in early April. The Commission on Presidential Scholars, appointed by President Joe Biden, will select the finalists, and finally the U.S. Department of Education will announce the Scholars in May.
Scholars will be honored during the National Recognition Program in June, where they will receive the Presidential Scholars Medallion.
