THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 11, 1995 TAG: 9510100084
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
IN A FEW YEARS, Jon Hopkins wants to be hunting bacteria and viruses in a lab somewhere.
A senior at Smithfield High School, Hopkins hopes to someday help find a cure for bacterial diseases and viruses like AIDS.
But for now, this young man who longs to be a bacteriologist is hunting for money to go to college.
``There will be three of us in my family going to college at the same time,'' Hopkins said, flashing the friendly grin he has become known for at Smithfield High. ``I'll go next year, my brother the following year and my sister not far behind.''
Recently, hunting for money may have become easier. Hopkins got a kind of license to do just that when he was recognized by the National Achievement Scholarship Program for scoring in the top 5 percent of black American high school students on his PSATs.
Hopkins scored well above average on both his verbal and math scores, said Lucy Robertson, his guidance counselor. His recognition by the National Achievement Scholarship Program for Outstanding Negro Students is the first for a Smithfield High student in more than five years.
``This is an honor that's fairly rare,'' Robertson said. ``Jon certainly has a bright future in front of him.''
It is one of a string of honors for Hopkins, son of Dr. Jon Hopkins Sr. and Angela Hopkins.
The family has lived in the Rushmere area for about two years. Rushmere's rural lifestyle is the first that Hopkins can recall experiencing. His father is an internist with the U.S. Navy. He can remember having lived in Maryland, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Hawaii. He was born in California.
Recently, he was presented with the Military Order of the World Wars for leadership, citizenship and academics by the local chapter of the American Legion. He attended Boys State in Lynchburg last summer. And he recently scored well above average on his advanced placement biology examination. Next month, he's going to Florida to take a test for a scholarship to one of six Macy Scholarship schools, including Boston University.
But Hopkins already has his future mapped out. He'll take the test in Florida, he said, but if he has his choice, he'll attend either Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., or Stanford University.
``Stanford is my second choice,'' he said. ``But Boston University is a good school, too.''
The interpretation of that is - he will go where the money is, to the school that offers him the best scholarship.
Being honored by the National Scholarship Program means that Hopkins' name will be recommended to about 1,500 of the nation's regionally accredited four-year colleges and universities. It could open the doors to him for admission and financial aid opportunities.
Hopkins grew up in a family where his dad was ``big on learning,'' and his mother knows eight languages. When he was younger, he recalled, his mother read to him from the Bible in both Hebrew and Greek.
But it was a ninth-grade teacher in Maryland who pointed him in the direction he's now headed.
``My biology teacher was doing research at the National Institutes of Health,'' Hopkins said. ``He would tell me all about what he was doing. He worked specifically with AIDS. My goal is to help find vaccines and cures for things like this. I understand they really need help in that field.''
Work like that also would be a kind of community service, said Hopkins, a member of his youth group at Bacon's Castle Baptist Church who sings in the Smithfield High School concert choir, plays the piano and plans to play soccer at school in the spring.
``I would like to reach out to people, many different people,'' he said. ``My goal is to help.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Jon Hopkins scored in the top 5 percent of black American high
school students on his PSATs.
by CNB