Jeffrey Wong, who spent the first few years of his life in China, could not speak English when he started kindergarten at Forkner Elementary School in 1996. But that initial communication barrier has not prevented him from becoming the top student in his class at Edison High School.
Jeffrey has a 4.32 grade-point average, competes in singles on his school's varsity tennis team, plays the piano and violin, and still finds time to do volunteer work for the drowning prevention program at Children's Hospital Central California and for the Tzu Chi Foundation's monthly medical clinic for needy families.
Mary Jo Quintero, a nurse at Children's Hospital, said she nominated Jeffrey for the Academic All-Stars because of his academic excellence and ability to work with people.
"He could be president of the United States," she said. "He's going to be successful in whatever he does."
Jeffrey wants to attend medical school and become an allergist.
Jeffrey William Wong is the eleventh grade winner of this year's Academic All-Star award.
See all nominees and print certificates"I really enjoy math and I love biology," he said. "A lot of people have allergies and I'd like to do something to help them."
Jeffrey said his most satisfying achievement was placing first with a perfect score at the 2004 Fresno Unified School District's Math-O-Rama competition. He also was pleased to get 35 out of 36 questions right in the math portion of his ACT college entrance exam and to place second in the state at the 2006 Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement competition.
A few rules are needed to help foster a feeling of community. We encourage a free and open exchange of ideas in a climate of mutual respect, but any post that violates someone's right to use and enjoy fresnobee.com is prohibited. Before you post, please read the terms of use and obey these simple guidelines.
Here are the ground rules:
Contents of this site are © Copyright The Fresno Bee. All rights reserved.
E-Mail
Print
2008 Academic All-Stars
@Nyx.CommentBody@