There are many ways to be a part of a school and community. Senior Luke Kim has done more than a few. From being crowned Homecoming King to being Student Council president and a National Commended Scholar, Kim is an active member of Solon. Not only does he participate in Solon activities, but he was also recognized as Coolidge Senator– a program only the top academic achievers in America get into, with only a 2.4% acceptance rate.

The Coolidge Senator Program recognizes the top 100 applicants for the Coolidge Scholarship, which is a presidential scholarship. They look for students who have gone above and beyond with their academic achievements and have a connection or interest in their founder, Calvin Coolidge. Throughout his four years of high school, many teachers and students can agree that Kim has demonstrated immense academic excellence.

President of the Coolidge Foundation, Matthew Denhart, is in charge of selecting applicants. Before working with the Coolidge Foundation, Denhart worked as a research fellow of the George W. Bush Institute. Denhart and his colleagues recognized Kim’s academic achievement from his application.

“He very closely [matched] to our selection criteria,” Denhart said. “His application, and he himself, demonstrated academic excellence. He is smart and dedicated and went above and beyond in SHS– which is a very good school.”

Sean Fisher, student council advisor and social studies teacher, has seen Kim in both leader and academic form. He describes him as passionate and dedicated.

“Luke is driven to succeed at anything he tries, and he is relentless in making sure he’s successful,” Fisher said.

Denhart also said Calvin Coolidge had a keen interest in economics and public policy, so they look for students who demonstrate these in their essays on their applications.

“Luke grasped deeper components of Coolidge principles, he had a firm understanding,” Denhart said. “Modern thinking on economics is important to Calvin Coolidge… and well, Luke Kim.”

Fisher said he noticed Kim’s interest in economics when he took his AP Economic class, but first heard about him when he sent an email at the age of 14. He describes him as a highly motivated student who thrives in the economic realm and the classroom.

“My favorite story about Luke to show his curiosity and interest is that when he was in eighth grade, he emailed the guidance department trying to take AP Economics as a freshman,” Fisher said. “We’ve never had anyone take that difficult class as a freshman, so we thought he was some overly confident middle schooler, and we encouraged him to wait until he was a sophomore.”

Kim listened to this advice, but as someone who wants to major in either economics or urban studies with a lens in public policy, this class was important to him.

“Well, he did wait to take AP Econ during his sophomore year, but it was quickly apparent to me from day one that year that he would have aced the class when he was in eighth grade,” Fisher said. “I’ve never seen someone so passionate and prepared for a class in my teaching career.”

Every year, the Coolidge Senators get flown down to Plymouth Notch, VT where they attend a summit. The summit consists of a tour of Calvin Coolidge’s hometown, discussing issues with experts and seminars.

Kim attended the Summit this August. He described the experience as insightful and said that it was a great program.

“We had engaging seminars across the political spectrum with different ideological thinkers,” said Kim, “Most of it was understanding who Coolidge is by reciting his speeches or doing debates based off of his ideology, or we were talking and listening to speakers that follow Coolidge’s mindset.”

Denhart finds it exciting each year to meet the new senators.

“It is a great opportunity to meet young people across the country who are motivated in seminars and debate,” Denhart said.

Denhart also said he likes to see the members get along, which according to him, is just what Kim did.

“Luke was friendly and bonded with all of the other members,” Denhart said.

Kim said he also feels he fits into the group well and still talks to some of the members today.

“It was a pretty fun trip,” said Kim. “I made a lot of friends there– those are my boys.”

Kim had a couple of friends apply for the program before, but they were not selected. He did hear about it a bit through some other people who were previously selected for the program.

“This is one of the few completely merit-based scholarships- it is just based on your accomplishments, ” Kim said. “I thought I would try to take a crack at it, and it ended up going well because I had a lot of fun there.”

As applications for the Coolidge Scholarship begin to open back up, Kim wants to leave a bit of advice for the juniors applying this year.

“You really want to embody Calving Coolidge- understanding the background he had that led him to develop his ideology, discovering what modern issues you can apply his thinking to and putting yourself in his position,” Kim said. “If you are able to articulate that, I think you will end up doing very well.”

This story was originally published on The Courier on November 15, 2024.