THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 1, 1995 TAG: 9511290171
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04B EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG
STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
For the first time in the nine-year history of its awards to the city's top high school seniors, the Optimist Club of Central Virginia Beach chose to honor two students from the same school.
Cox High School students Porter Hayes Mason III and Catherine Ann McCallum were named by the club as the city's Outstanding High School Seniors for the 1995-96 school year.
``I'm just absolutely thrilled,'' counselor Martha Nielsen, who accompanied the students to the awards breakfast, said. ``We've had winners from Cox before, but never two in the same year. These two really deserve it, they're so outstanding.''
Mason, son of Buck and Nelly Mason, is a straight-A student who stands first in his class academically with a 4.164 grade-point average. He's vice president of both his class and the National Honor Society, as well as a College Board National Merit Scholar semi-finalist and Advanced Placement Scholar.
He is also an accomplished cartoonist who has had more than 40 editorial cartoons published locally in the newspaper and has received numerous awards for his artwork and cartoons.
Mason has applied to the University of Virginia and Harvard, Stanford and Duke universities and hopes for a career in the sciences, either computer or astronomy.
His college preferences have caused a minor stir in the family. One of his two older sisters works in the admissions office at The College of William and Mary. ``I think she was a little upset when I didn't apply there,'' he said.
McCallum, the daughter of Charles and Rebecca McCallum, serves as president of the National Honor Society at Cox, editor-in-chief of the yearbook and second vice-president of the SCA.
She is probably best known, however, as a tri-captain of Cox's field hockey team, which recently won its seventh consecutive state title. A right wing on the team, she was credited with a national-record 33 assists for the season. Her career total of 58 assists is second nationally.
``She's a real team player in everything she does,'' her mother commented. Rebecca McCallum credits the excellent teachers and coaches at Cox for her daughter's success in so many different areas.
``Cox has such high caliber people as their standard bearers,'' she said. ``They're fabulous mentors.''
McCallum, whose two older brothers attended Virginia Military Institute, has applied to Wake Forest, the University of Virginia, William and Mary and Old Dominion. She plans to go into medicine.
Two students from each of the city's 12 public and private high schools were entered as finalists in the contest. They were:
Bayside: Shaun Rivera and Abigaille Laxa;
Cape Henry: Phillip Folck and Tova Rusten Cohn;
Catholic: Matthew Ing and Aileen Finley;
First Colonial: Carlos Chandler and Anahita Azizkhani;
Green Run: Charles Cowden and Quiana Erb;
Kellam: Joseph Holland and Valerie Lett;
Kempsville: Donald Christman and Kari Wilson;
Ocean Lakes: David Andrews and Jean-Maurice Salcedo;
Princess Anne: Joel Mandelkorn and Sara Bowles;
Salem: Jose Mojica and Farrah DeLeon;
Tallwood: Jozen Orbase and Emmeline Cenizel. ILLUSTRATION: Catherine Ann McCallum
Porter Hayes Mason III
by CNB