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One day when Oliver Nguyen-Lopez was about six months old, he stopped breathing. His frantic parents administered CPR until the ambulance arrived.
The medical emergency was caused by an allergic reaction to the whooping cough vaccination, which most babies tolerate. He stopped breathing on three more Bruoccasions during the next six weeks, pulling through because of his parents’ quick action and hospital care.
“I didn’t emerge unscathed,” he says. “Because of that lack of oxygen to my brain I learned new things slower and with more difficulty compared to my old self and others.“
In school he compensated by focusing intensely on tasks and working extra hard. New tasks took longer to learn, but he challenged himself and never made excuses, he said.
The 20 graduating high school seniors who win the Best & Brightest scholarship are different each year, but their accomplishments have been consistently stellar for three decades.
Since the annual community recognition program began 30 years ago, The Gazette’s Best & Brightest award has drawn the best of the best.
More than 100 students applied for this year’s award, sponsored by The Gazette Charities Foundation and the ARDI Foundation, which, in support of academic excellence, provides endowed academic chairs at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Outstanding academic achievements and contributions to the community are among the criteria 20 prominently community leaders looked for in judging the 2021 applicants.