Stellar scholars — Winners in Class of 2008 have some impressive resumes and skills

Performing at the invitation of Paraguay's prime minister, earning a standing ovation at Carnegie Hall and receiving international competition accolades — West High senior Lindsey Brinton's resume indeed shines.

Wednesday night, the teen pianist added sterling to her list of accomplishments.

Brinton, who is completing her international baccalaureate diploma and has accepted an "early admit" to Stanford University, was honored with both the Music Sterling Scholar award and the 2008 General Scholarship Sterling Scholar award — the "MVP of all Sterling Scholars," as co-host and Channel 5 meteorologist Kevin Eubank put it — at the 2008 Deseret Morning News/KSL Television Sterling Scholar Awards ceremony at Cottonwood High School.

The honors, which come with $4,500 in cash for the grand prize winner, culminate weeks of competition with 676 of Utah's most gifted young artists and academics. They also afford bragging rights in a family where four children have competed in the Sterling Scholar program.

"They push me to develop my talents and improve my technique," said the West student body president, who performs all over the world with her mother, Sally Brinton, and sister, Stephanie, the 2006 Music Sterling Scholar. "Finally," she said of the awards, "it's my turn."

Brinton is among 13 students from Wasatch Front high schools, from Springville to Bear River, to receive $2,000 cash awards and Sterling Scholar honors in academic disciplines from science to dance.

"I'm the first in my school to ever win," said Bear River High's Brittney Selman, who won top honors in trade and technical education. "I'm almost crying."

The Sterling Scholars program was created in 1962 by Deseret News education editor Lavor K. Chaffin, who patterned the program after a Florida newspaper's endeavor to honor academic excellence in the same way athletic achievements are lauded. Now, five regional programs in Utah bear the name and will involve more than 1,200 students this year.

The Wednesday awards ceremony singled out 15 winners from 676 nominees from 52 Wasatch Front high schools. Sterling Scholar winners in 13 academic categories receive $2,000 in cash, with the general scholarship winner receiving an additional $2,500. Two runners-up in each category receive $700. Two specialty awards — the Douglas F. Bates Community Service Award, received by Amy Ormond of Ben Lomond High; and the Philo T. Farnsworth Governor's Award for student innovations, awarded to Wayman Stodart of Logan High — come with $400 checks. Sterling Scholar honors also open other scholarship opportunities at 18 Utah and Idaho colleges and universities, some just for being one of the 195 finalists.