Two Bartlesville seniors named Academic All-Staters

Bartlesville Public Schools seniors Matt Fries and Morgan King have been named Oklahoma 2022 Academic All-Staters, a distinction recognizing the top 100 public school seniors in the state.

This year, Academic All-Staters were selected from 397 nominations statewide and hail from 75 schools in 67 Oklahoma school districts.

Fries and King will be honored at the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence's 36th annual Academic Awards Celebration on May 21, at the Omni Oklahoma City Hotel.

Fries is an Eagle Scout, Troop 5 senior patrol leader, troop guide and den chief. He is Washita Lodge Order of the Arrow vice chief, treasurer and service chairman and was awarded the Order of the Arrow Distinguished Service Award and Founders Award.

Fries also is vice president of Bartlesville Future Farmers of America, placing as a 2021 National Finalist for the FFA Agricultural Communications Career Development Event. He was a student representative for the 2021 Bartlesville Public Schools district bond issue and volunteers with Catholic Charities and the Knights of Columbus. Fries is a member of the Environmental Club and enjoys backpacking and the outdoors. He plans to study biological systems engineering at Oklahoma State University. His scholarship sponsor is Phillips 66.

A National Merit finalist and U.S. Presidential Scholar Nominee, King is an Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction. He is the founder and president of the Bartlesville High School Math Club, a MATHCOUNTS participant and coach, and a qualifier for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination in 2021 and 2022.

King is a member of the Student Superintendent Advisory Board and National Honor Society. He is first cellist for the symphonic orchestra and a varsity track and cross-country runner. King plans to study nuclear engineering at Brigham Young University or Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His scholarship sponsor is ConocoPhillips.

This year’s All-Staters scored an average of 33 on the ACT, with six recipients scoring a perfect 36. King is one of the six to bring in a perfect score, according to OFE.

The 100 students’ average GPA was 4.22. In addition, 28 of this year’s All-Staters are National Merit semifinalists, and one student is a National Hispanic Scholar semifinalist.

Each of this year’s All-Staters will receive a $1,000 merit-based scholarship and a medallion.

“The Academic Awards Banquet is an inspiring, entertaining and important event celebrating exceptional student leaders and educators in our public schools,” said Dayna Rowe, an Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence trustee from Yukon and executive director of external affairs for Redlands Community College. “We are excited to be able to host our first full-scale, in-person event in three years and to gather in a beautiful new venue to roll out the red carpet for our honorees.”

The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence is a nonprofit, charitable organization founded in 1985 by then-U.S. Sen. David Boren to recognize and encourage academic excellence in Oklahoma’s public schools.

Through its Academic Awards Program, the foundation has awarded more than $5.1 million in merit-based scholarships and cash awards to honor outstanding graduating seniors as Academic All-Staters and exceptional educators as Medal for Excellence winners.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Two Bartlesville seniors named Academic All-Staters