DeKalb County School District (DCSD) students Samantha Brewer of Dunwoody High School, and Eunice Garcia of Clarkston High School are among 183 graduating seniors statewide to be named Georgia Scholars by the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE).

The program, coordinated by the GaDOE’s Excellence Recognition Office, recognizes high school seniors who have achieved excellence in school and community life. Each Georgia Scholar receives a seal for his or her diploma.

“Students in DeKalb are among the best of the best. Samantha and Eunice are proof positive of this belief, and we are pleased to celebrate this honor along with their schools and loved ones,” said Superintendent R. Stephen Green. “Every student in DCSD can learn and achieve, and we know younger students will look to these young women of examples of how successful they can be.”

To be eligible for recognition as a Georgia Scholar, high school seniors must exhibit excellence in all phases of school life, in community activities, and in the home. Academically, they are students who have carried exemplary course loads during the four years of high school; who performed excellently in all courses; who successfully participated in interscholastic events at their schools and in their communities; and who have assumed active roles in extracurricular activities sponsored by their schools.

“I offer my sincere congratulations to each of our 2017 Georgia Scholars,” said state Superintendent Richard Woods in a GaDOE news release. “These students have exemplary academic performance but they’ve also gained soft skills by taking on leadership roles within their schools and communities. I am confident we will hear great things about their accomplishments in the near future.”