High schools’ highest achievers

NEWPORT BEACH — Nicholas Hatton spent Tuesday morning at the Hyatt Regency in Newport Beach being honored as one of the top 30 high school students in town. The next three years, some of his students might follow him there.

Nicholas — or Cole for short — is 17, but the Newport Harbor High School senior is already a sought-after mentor. Earlier this year, Cole started his own tutoring business to help students with math and science, posting fliers around campus and charging $30 an hour. By Tuesday, he said, he had raked in nearly $4,000 in revenue.

“Last year in physics, I noticed that sometimes I’d go over and study with my friends,” Cole said. “Every time I studied with my friends, they seemed to do better.”

Entrepreneurs, musicians, volunteers, Sunday school teachers — the students who crossed the stage at the Hyatt ran the gamut of young achievement. The 46th annual scholarship breakfast, hosted by the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Commodores Club, offered students a moment to shine in their hometown before they headed off to Harvard, Stanford and elsewhere.

“It’s remarkable — every year we get more and more students,” Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce President Richard Luehrs said after the ceremony. “It’s impressive and says something about the quality of education these kids are receiving and the achievements they’ve accomplished. It’s amazing.”

The event started on a more somber note than usual, as master of ceremonies Stanford Green called for an invocation in memory of the victims of Monday’s shooting at Virginia Tech. Norm Loats, a fellow member of the Commodores, offered remarks as the audience stood in silence.

Afterward, the ceremony turned rousing again, as Corona del Mar High School Principal Fal Asrani and Newport Harbor High Principal Michael Vossen stood at podiums on each end of the stage and introduced their students. The pair got some laughs from the audience as they razzed each other about which school has the better programs.

“Michael and I probably have the best job, which is to work with you and your brilliance,” Asrani told the students and their families.

Each of the students honored — 15 from each school — stood on stage as the principals read lists of their accomplishments. Newport Harbor student Laura Clayton had studied piano for 13 years, while her classmate Brittany Deyan served as president of the school’s Invisible Children Club, which aids children in war-torn Uganda. Corona del Mar student Nichole Slykhous co-founded a club with her sister to provide clothing to the needy.

When introducing student Michelle Atkins, who served as president of two clubs as well as varsity tennis captain, Asrani asked humorously, “Michelle, did you have time to breathe your senior year?”

Replied her star pupil, “A little bit.”