Victoria Bolling, a seventh grader at Polk County Middle School, received a Grand Recognition Honor Medal on Monday, May 18 at Duke University. The presentation took place inside Cameron Stadium. There were over 64,000 students who qualified for this year’s Duke Talent Search across the nation. Of these, just over 2,000 qualified for Grand Recognition Honors. These seventh graders represent the top 4 percent, achieving meritorious scores on either the ACT or SAT exams. Students attending this ceremony came from across the United States, as far as Hawaii.

 

The keynote speaker was Dr. Robert Lefkowitz, the 2012 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. Additional distinguished guests presented the students with their awards. These included: University of Pennsylvania neuroscientist, Alice Chen-Plotkin; Google data scientist, Geoff Davis; and Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director of the US Biological Advanced Research and Development Authority, Richard J. Hatchet, M.D.

Bolling will be attending Duke TIP classes this summer at Wake Forest University, thanks to the generosity of the Polk County Community Foundation. She is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Bolling of Tryon.

 

– Submitted by Vana Bolling