BATON ROUGE — Nearly 20 Baton Rouge Magnet High School students were selected as candidates for a presidential honor.

The 17 students selected as Presidential Scholar candidates by the U.S. Department of Education are:

- Nicole Baumgartner
- Emily Chen
- Owen Dong
- Ryan Feng
- Varun Gala
- Frances Kantrow
- Eva Lockridge
- Sofia Lockridge
- Benedict Michel
- Emily Phan
- David Shen
- Michael Shi
- Dhruva Sonti
- Tejasvi Tyagi
- Sydni Wheeler
- Ryan Wilson
- Spencer Yan

Baton Rouge High students represent the most students nominated at a Louisiana school for one of the nation's top high school student honors.

In 2024, two Baton Rouge students — Episocipal High School's Kathy Hu and Baton Rouge High's Brandon Lin — were named U.S. Presidential Scholars.

The program was established in 1964 to recognize some of the nation's most distinguished graduating high school seniors and recognizes more than 161 students annually.

The program has since been expanded to honor more than just academic talent, now highlighting creative and technical excellence.