A DeKalb High School senior has big ideals and he wants to one day run the country.
“Ever since I was maybe 8 or something, I was like, I want to be president because I just think it would be totally awesome to be influential and try to actually benefit people,” said Ewan Poole.
Poole was named a Commended Student in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. Poole was among the top 3% of the 1.3 million students who entered the program.
“It’s, like, startling, shocking. I can’t believe it most of the time,” Poole said. “It seems unbelievable that a tiny slip of paper I got and spilled water on is one of the most prized accomplishments I have.”
The scholarship program is open to top achieving high school seniors who received high scores on the Preliminary SAT and National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) in their junior year and completed an application complete with an essay and SAT/ ACT scores. Poole received an endorsement from his principal, Clayton Little.
Finalists for the scholarship are selected among the top 16,000 semifinalists. Only about 7,880 students are selected for National Merit Scholarships.
Poole said while he missed becoming a finalist, he is looking at other scholarship opportunities available to him.
“I’m working on the Coca- Cola scholarship, the Jack Kennedy scholarship and the Higgins scholarship. And I’m going to do a ton of the local ones,” he said.
He’s also applying for the National College Match with QuestBridge which will allow him to attend one of 55 top Ivy League universities in the nation.
Through QuestBridge, he has already secured a tour at Brown University in Rhode Island.
In his studies, he plans to study economics and political science.
Raised by his great-grandparents, John and Martha Burns, Poole said he learned the value in education and hard work.
“I’d consider them my personal role models … He’s tried to instill a lot of intelligent ideas into me like promote educational growth. And my great-grandmother, she’s just a hard worker. She’s worked at the same place for nearly 50 years. So that’s where I get it from,” he said. “I want to be optimistic about things and just do something more.”
Poole said good grades and studying have always come easy to him but he still makes the decision to continue to work hard in his classes.
“There’s a ton of parables talking about the dude who practices something is always better than the guy who has an affinity for it. And that’s what I believe, too,” he added.
