Tulsa Archives - Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence

Jack Carson

Booker T. Washington High School

First in his class, Jack Carson is a National Merit semifinalist and U.S. Presidential Scholar candidate. He was selected for the Research Science Institute program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, after which he was hired as the first high school researcher in the MIT Jasanoff Lab. Before this, Carson worked on NASA/Federal Aviation Administration Geographic Information Systems while researching computational chemistry and artificial intelligence at the University of Tulsa. He has been appointed to the Cherokee Nation Tribal Youth Council and has served as president of the Tulsa Native Youth Board and multiple organizations at his school. He plans to pursue a double major in MIT, studying computation and neural systems as well as philosophy.

Academic All-State Sponsor: Cherokee Nation

Joy Crow

Thomas A. Edison Preparatory High School

Joy Crow is a National Merit finalist and an Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction. She is first-chair violist in her school’s advanced orchestra and in the Tulsa Honors and Tulsa Honors Baroque Orchestras. She has been on class board throughout high school and has been class treasurer for two years. She attends Tulsa Girls Art School and is a part of her school’s art program. She has been in Girl Scouts since kindergarten and is an active member of The Park Church of Christ and The Park Youth. Crow plans to major in biology at Abilene Christian University.

Academic All-State Sponsor: Williams

Leslie Espinoza

Booker T. Washington High School

A Gates Scholarship finalist who is Top 10 in her class, Leslie Espinoza has been recognized by the College Board as a National Hispanic Recognition Program awardee and an Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction. She is a member of Youth Philanthropy Initiative, where she is part of a team working toward the prevention of human trafficking. She is also a lead for her school’s robotics team, and a Tulsa Higher Education Consortium fellow. She has been recognized as a Columbia University Engineering Scholar and a University of Pennsylvania Early Exploration Program scholar. Espinoza hopes to dual major in bioengineering and business administration at Rice University.

Academic All-State Sponsor: The John and Donnie Brock Foundation