Song Ting Tang, a senior at John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School, has been named a finalist in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, the only student in Richmond County to have done so.
Tang is among the less than 1% of students who took the preliminary SAT in fall of 2021 to be named a National Merit Finalist, surpassing more than 16,000 semifinalists and making him eligible for corporate and college-sponsored scholarships.
Alongside SAT scores, transcripts and documentations of school involvement and extracurricular activities, students competing in the National Merit program must submit an essay about themselves and their accomplishments. This year, the essay prompt was to describe overcoming a hardship.
“So I wrote about coming to America, how I faced a lot of language and cultural barriers when I first came to America,” said Tang, who arrived with his family to the U.S. from Shanghai, China when he was 10 years old.
He admits that when he first came to the States, the difficulty adjusting made him feel lonely and even pessimistic.
“There was a little bit of a culture shock when he came to the U.S. And when he came to Davidson, he felt like it took him a little while to, to find this place,” said Latin teacher Samantha Mealing.
Tang was able to surmount the major cultural change by becoming more outgoing and working on improving his English skills. Indeed, he attributes his academic success to the support of his teachers, such as English teacher Katelyn Hamilton.
“Honestly, I have learned a lot from him on how to be positive and approach every day with a new kind of outlook and to be a better person in general,” said Hamilton, who Tang chose as his STAR Teacher when he was selected as one of Richmond County’s STAR Students in February.
Hamilton notes that Tang had early on expressed particular interest in her class, as she emphasizes incorporating in-depth analysis to writing. Because of this, she said, Tang has shown a capacity to be more proficient in English than many native speakers.
“He definitely internalizes what he has learned,” Hamilton said.
As far as being outgoing, Tang has more than met that obstacle with a long list of extracurricular activities, including being president of the Beta Club, vice president of the high school student council, and being involved in the high school Science Club and the National Honor Society.
He also volunteers at the CSRA Chinese School, teaching art to kids from age eight to high school age.
“I’ve been doing this since ninth grade,” said Tang. “I also teach them elements of Chinese culture, because what I found out is a lot of the kids, because they are American-born Chinese, kind of lack knowledge of Chinese culture, because they didn’t grow up in that environment.”
His teachers, of course, are inclined to attribute his success as a student to his intelligence, diligence and academic dedication. Hamilton notes his “incredible work ethic” and that he “just loves to learn.”
They’re also apt to note those qualities are complemented with a thoughtful and kindly character. Mealing also underscores he’s not only hard working but universally well-liked because of his optimism and willingness to help other students.
“He has an incredible work ethic,” said Hamilton. “Aside from that, he just loves to learn. He wants to understand things, he wants to have different experiences, he wants to see more of how the world works.”
When he’s not engaged in his studies, or one of his several activities, Tang enjoys playing tennis, reading novels, drawing and painting. (“I like to make meaningful works of art,” he said).
Tang intends to study biology or chemistry in college, going on a pre-med track, and said that potential work as a physician or surgeon would be “honorable.”
“I feel like being able to save somebody’s life is really, really meaningful,” he said. “Being involved in a career in the medical field, I’ll be able to really help people, and I want to be that person. For now, I want to major in the sciences in college. But it could change.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
