CVHS’s Zoe Dorado Named 2023 Presidential Scholar
On May 10, Castro Valley’s Zoe Dorado was named a 2023 U.S. Presidential Scholar. The award is given to high school seniors who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement, artistic excellence, technical expertise, leadership, citizenship, service, and contribution to school and community.
Dorado is one of 161 other U.S. high school seniors acknowledged this year. She joins 11 other California students honored with the award and is one of the seven Presidential Scholars from the Bay Area.
“When I received a notification from the U.S. Department of Education that morning, I was still half asleep because I had just woken up. But when I checked my phone and read the email, I was fully awake. I immediately ran to the kitchen to tell my parents the good news,” Dorado told the Forum.
Of the 3.7 million students expected to graduate from high school this year, more than 5,000 candidates qualified for the 2023 awards determined by outstanding performance on the College Board SAT or ACT exams or through nominations made by chief state school officers, other partner recognition organizations and YoungArts, the National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists.
Dorado has been making a name for herself in literary circles. She has been a part of Youth Speaks (a spoken word poetry organization based in San Francisco) since 2020. In 2021, she was recognized as the Inaugural Alameda County Youth Poet Laureate. For the last three years, Dorado has been working with Filipino Advocates for Justice, where she holds cultural and social justice workshops for East Bay teens through the Bayanihan Youth Group. She is also active in Sama Sama, a Bay Area Filipinx cooperative and summer camp.
“I’ve been part of Sama Sama since I was a fourth grader,” Dorado says. “I was a camper, but then I started leading poetry workshops when I became a high schooler.”
Created in 1964, the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program has honored more than 8,000 of the nation’s top-performing students. The program was expanded in 1979 to recognize students who demonstrate exceptional talent in the visual, literary, and performing arts. In 2015, the program was extended to recognize students who demonstrate ability and accomplishment in career and technical education fields.
Since 1983, each U.S. Presidential Scholar has been offered the opportunity to name his or her most influential teacher. Each distinguished teacher is honored with a personal letter from the Secretary of Education. The teacher chosen for recognition by Dorado was Michelle Lew.
“I feel honored by this recognition but feel especially grateful to my mom, my dad, and my English teacher Ms. Lew. I also feel blessed to have had the opportunity to be part of communities like Youth Speaks, Sama Sama, and Filipino Advocates for Justice. My family, my friends, my teachers, and every artist, writer, and community organizer I've had the chance to meet has helped me grow into the person I am today.”
Dorado says she will be attending Pomona College, a small liberal arts school in Claremont, California, to study English and Public Policy Analysis. However, she says she is also interested in their Philosophy, Politics, and Economics interdisciplinary majors.