New Canaan High Senior Name Jefferson Scholar at University of Virginia

New Canaan High School senior Edward O’Rourke was named a Jefferson Scholar at The University of Virginia.

He is one of 34 recipients of the award and is the second from his family and the third New Canaan high student in the past five years to accomplish the feat.

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Throughout his four years at New Canaan High School Ted has taken the highest levels of each core academic course. As a self-motivated student with a voracious appetite for knowledge, he has propelled himself through the traditional high school course timeline by doubling his science classes and exhausting the math curriculum. When he couldn’t fit an economics class into his already tight high school course schedule, he enrolled in a college-level economics class at a local university.

In addition to attaining one of the highest grade point averages in his class, Ted has found time to play varsity soccer, hockey and lacrosse. He has served as an editor of the Spectator Literary Magazine for the past two years and president of S.L.O.B.S. Other co-curricular activities include the Math Team, JETS Engineering Team, NCHS Buddies Club and National Honor Society. He is a National Merit Semifinalist, AP Scholar with Distinction and Connecticut Governor’s Scholar Award winner. Beyond this outstanding record of achievements and accolades, Ted is a well-rounded teenager. Ted is highly respected by his teachers, counselors and friends as an outstanding human being - a dedicated team player who leads by example and has the ability to bring out the best in others.

With so many academic options available to him, what convinced Ted to become a Jefferson Scholar at the University of Virginia? Ted described his visit to U. Va. as “an amazing weekend” filled with smart, interesting and unique people. The huge number of resources available through the Foundation include academic programs to explore, a huge support system to meet personal goals, a tight alumni network spread all over, the legacy of Thomas Jefferson visible in quotes and architecture everywhere, and one cool thing no other school could offer – being near his brother Jack.