Sterling Scholar awards: Stellar students

Sterling Scholar winners: http://deseretnews.com/scholars/

Tien Tien Jong has felt overwhelmed by the company she's been keeping of late — all those Sterling Scholar candidates, whose work has been published in the newspaper, even books.

But in the end, it was the Ben Lomond High senior's talents that shone in the English Sterling Scholar category — and all others.

The teen who says she used to struggle in reading until journalism teacher Christy Call took her under her wing was named the top English scholar — and the overall General Sterling Scholar — at the 45th annual Deseret Morning News and KSL-TV Sterling Scholar awards ceremony Wednesday night.

The honor comes with $2,500 cash and opens doors to possibilities for additional scholarships at Utah and Idaho colleges and universities.

"I couldn't think," the aspiring journalist said of her unexpected time in the spotlight. "I really wanted to impress my journalism teacher."

Undoubtedly, she already has.

Jong helps with subtitles for Weber State University's Asian Studies Film Series, participates in concert choir and edits the school newspaper and literary magazine. The daughter of Dan Jong and Xinbing Wang has won the Ogden City School Foundation's Amy Tan and Ken Burns essay contests and the Rotary Youth Leadership Award. She also is a state engineering fair winner who aced the ACT English and SAT literature subject tests.

Twelve other Wasatch Front area Sterling Scholars were named in disciplines from science to speech/drama, awards that come with $1,000 checks. Twenty-six runners-up received $250, and all 195 finalists received honors from Zions Bank and the Les Olson Co. and tickets to a Utah Jazz game and an upcoming performance at Pioneer Memorial Theatre.

Sterling Scholar winners are considered the cream of Utah's high school students.

East High pianist and music Sterling Scholar Stephanie Brinton has performed all over the world, from Naples to Cairo, and will perform this summer in Beijing, Tokyo and Hong Kong. She has accepted an "early-admit" to Stanford University, and hopes to follow in the footsteps of her mother, her favorite performance partner, and complete graduate studies at Juilliard.