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Peoria’s Suhani Patel is a U.S. Presidential Scholar

BY LAUREN SERRATO Peoria Times Staff Writer

Peoria student Suhani Patel was one of three Arizona students named to the 57th class of U.S. Presidential Scholars.

The 2021 Mountain Ridge High School graduate is among the 161 high school seniors selected by the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. The choices are based on academic success, artistic and technical excellence, essays, school evaluations and transcripts, as well as community service, leadership and demonstrated commitment to high ideals.

Patel, a Peoria resident, was awarded the Presidential Scholar in career and technical education.

“I’m in shock, and it hasn’t really settled in yet,” Patel said. “I don’t think it has fully planted in my brain that I got it, but I’m just in shock and I’m really grateful to have this opportunity.”

Following her passion for computer science and coding, Patel will attend Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in the fall to study computer science and economics.

As an Arizona native, Patel said she is looking forward to experiencing winters and having the opportunity to receive an Ivy League education.

“I’m excited to learn more about computer science,” she explained.

“There aren’t that many resources for younger kids to learn computer science outside of university that goes really in depth and helps you learn those skills. I’m also excited to start a new life and meet new people, make new friends, make new connections, discover my passion and learn more about myself, all the things that come with college.”

With an impressive 4.81 weighted grade-point average, Patel graduated from Mountain Ridge in the top 1% of her class.

Over 3.5 million students graduated from high school this year. Of those students, more than 6,000 candidates qualified for the 2021 awards determined by their performance on the College Board SAT or ACT exams or through nominations.

Patel scored nearly perfect on her exams, finishing with a 1520 on the SAT and a 35 on the ACT.

To determine the final 161 students, as directed by presidential executive order, the 2021 U.S. Presidential Scholars are composed of one young man and one young woman from each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

“The 2021 Presidential Scholars represent extraordinary achievements for our extraordinary times,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a statement to the press.

“I am delighted to join President Biden in saluting these outstanding young people for their achievements, service, character and continued pursuit of excellence. Their examples make me proud and hopeful about the future. Honoring them can remind us all of the great potential in each new generation

Suhani Patel, a Mountain Ridge High School graduate, will attend Cornell University in the fall after being named a U.S. Presidential Scholar. (Photo cour-

tesy of Suhani Patel)

SEE SCHOLAR PAGE 24

Librarian shares love of reading through ‘Madame Patchouli’

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Peoria Times Staff Writer

Sunrise Mountain Public Library has resumed in-person events, including its popular storytime “Crazy Times with Madame Patchouli.”

Kathie Jackson, who plays Madame Patchouli, is Sunrise Mountain Public Library’s lead librarian and has been with the library since 2002.

“At the time I started, we had a tiny room off on the corner and we had about three kids attending storytimes,” Jackson said. “Then, within about a year and a half, we grew to about 40 kids and outgrew that room.”

As for the unique name of her character, Jackson is the first to tell people the name was not her idea.

“When I started, my boss at the time invented the name and I would wear a costume,” Jackson said.

As the character developed, Jackson added performances for kids ages 3 to 5 in the Sunrise Mountain Public Library.

“All of my stories will have some sort of literacy component, but all of my shows start off with some songs to get the kids settled in, then we’ll read a couple of books,” Jackson said.

During her 20 years as Madame Patchouli, Jackson has given her shows themes. The most recent was Memorial Day.

Because Memorial Day can be a tough topic for kids that age to grasp, Jackson

JACKSON FROM PAGE 22 opted to use the colors of our nation’s flag as the theme for her show.

Of course, storytime with Madame Patchouli wouldn’t be complete without her closing tune, the hokey pokey. After singing and dancing to the iconic children’s tune, Jackson typically asks her audience to create a craft.

“We do a craft because, at that age, they have the hand-eye coordination to do that and it’s really important for their development,” Jackson said.

Jackson’s shows peaked prior to the pandemic but had to pivot to “the new normal.”

“Before COVID-19, we would do two shows because we would get some pretty high numbers of attendance,” Jackson said. “Right now, we’re only doing one show per week, and we have limits of attendance, which we will be adhering to throughout the rest of the summer.”

During the height of the pandemic, when the library was closed to the public, Jackson offered her storytimes differently.

“During the pandemic we did some taped story times, and it wasn’t the same as in person,” Jackson said. “At that age, the kids just don’t have a real long attention span.”

Jackson is pleased she can interact with the children in person again. She’s been performing to limited-capacity crowds since April 15.

“Right now, we have a first-come, firstserve ticketing process and are only up to 75% occupancy,” Jackson said.

“We will increase those numbers once we get the OK from the city. Those kids had been gone for so long and they changed so much, so it’s been fun to see them come back.”

Jackson gets a kick out of seeing former participants bring in their own children or come back to volunteer as a teenager.

“I’m starting to get kids who once came to my storytimes with their own kids or as teen volunteers,” Jackson said.

However, the most rewarding part of Jackson’s job, as she said, is watching the kids grow into avid readers.

“My favorite part of the job is when parents who moved out of state will send me photos of their kids on Facebook or Instagram of them reading their books and knowing that they got their start with me.”

Looking to this summer, Jackson hopes to have kids enroll in the Sunrise Mountain Public Library’s summer reading program. During the program, kids can win prizes ranging from coupons for free food up to a complimentary book.

Jackson is just pleased she can pass on her love of reading to as many generations as possible.

“I plan to carry on and grow more kids that want to become readers,” Jackson said. “Even if your child doesn’t like to read, we still want to help them as well.”

Crazy Times with Madame Patchouli

WHEN: 10:30 a.m. Thursdays WHERE: Sunrise Mountain Public Library, 21109 N. 98th Avenue, Peoria COST: Free, but limited to 23 people INFO: library.peoriaaz.gov

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SCHOLAR FROM PAGE 22 and renew our commitment to helping them achieve their dreams.”

Students are also chosen from abroad programs, as well as 15 chosen at-large, 20 scholars in the arts and 20 scholars in career and technical education.

While Patel said her ideal job has yet to be determined, she does know she wants to help others.

“I want to learn how I can use computer science to help developing countries accelerate their economic development and bring them up to speed with the rest of the world. That’s the dream job as of now. But how I can perform that job is not super set,” Patel said.

On top of her academic accolades, Patel participated in multiple extracurricular activities during her time as a high school student.

At Mountain Ridge High School, Patel served as president of the Future Business Leaders of America, an unnamed officer of DECA and president of Girls Who Code.

Outside of school, Patel started a nonprofit, Tech for Tails, where she teaches virtual coding and programming workshops across the country, and all the profits go toward humane animal shelters and anticruelty societies to help combat animal abuse.

Patel is also involved in Vetoes for Girls, a nonprofit that promotes women in STEM and women in computer science.

To add to her resume, Patel worked a part-time job at Code Ninjas, where she taught kids game development.

Patel also made time for community service, as she was involved in the National Charity League. There, she partnered with local nonprofits and did philanthropy work with organizations including Feed My Starving Children and St. Mary’s Food Bank.

To round out her list of extracurriculars, Patel was an intern at Carnegie Mellon University, where she researched ways to prevent canal leaks with the help of computer science and algorithms.

With a college application with accolades and extracurriculars like Patel’s, it’s no surprise she was accepted into multiple top-tier programs, including University of California, Berkeley; University of Texas at Austin; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Michigan.

As she approaches her freshman year of college, Patel said she’s looking forward to gaining the knowledge that will allow her to make a change in communities in need, like the small village in India she has spent much time in.

“I’m excited to use my passion in computer science to make actual change in my community and make strides for causes that I care about, especially in developing countries,” said Patel, referring to India.

“Villages and countries like that, I like to call it backward society, and that’s a cause I’m really passionate about and that’s something I’m really looking forward to post-graduation, is being able to make change in that space and in that realm using computer science and whatever else I learned in college,” Patel said.

To view the complete list of the 2021 U.S. Presidential Scholars, visit ed.gov/ psp.

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