EMILY KALKA
Staff Reporter
Katy Grant, a student at North Rock Creek High School, was awarded Oklahoma Academic All-State by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and is one of 100 students from around the state to receive the award this year.
Grant is the daughter of Dr. Gregory and Jennifer Grant. She also attends Gordon Cooper Technology Center’s Pre-Engineering Academy.After graduation, Grant plans to study Biomedical Engineering.
She is a National Merit Finalist, a finalist at FIRST World Championship, made the FIRST Robotics Dean’s List and received College Board Rural and Small Town Recognition, the Prudential Spirit of CommunityAward and The President’s Volunteer Service Award.
Grant is a member of the FIRST Robotics Team 2341 “The Sprockets”, Skills USA and was the head of the backstage crew for “Puffs” at the Shawnee Little Theatre. Other community involvement includes founder of Senior STEM, which visits nursing homes monthly to talk with residents and lead them in STEM activities; STEM on Wheels, which visits elementary schools to lead kids in STEMbased healthy activities; Shawnee LEOS Club; and volunteering at Our Community Market.
The 2024 AcademicAll-State class will be honored by OFE at the 2024 Academic Awards Celebration on May 4 at the Embassy Suites Hotel & Conference Center in Norman. Each student will receive a $1,500 cash award, honor card and medallion, according to an OFE press release.
The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence named students from 71 public schools in 64 school districts to the list in 2024, according to the press release. Since the foundation launched the program in 1987, they have honored around 3,800 Academic All-State students from 336 school districts.
“These outstanding students reflect the academic excellence achieved in Oklahoma’s public schools,” OFE Executive Director Elizabeth Inbody said. “We are honored to have the opportunity to celebrate them and reiterate the importance of public education in Oklahoma.”
To be eligible to apply, students must meet one of three criteria - an ACT composite score of at least 30, a combined SAT evidence-based reading and writing and math score of at least 1370, or be selected as a National Merit Semifinalist.
The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence is a nonprofit that recognizes and encourages academic excellence in public schools in the state. It was launched in 1985, and through the Academic Awards Program, it awards $175,000 annually to outstanding students and educators.