NKHS' Aca Deca Students Honored at State House

Two seniors were among 22 high school students to receive $500 scholarships last week in a State House ceremony honoring "gold medal" performances at this year's Rhode Island Academic Decathlon.

NKHS seniors Graham Sutherland and Jonathan Persia received citations from Gov. Lincoln Chafee and House Majority Leader Nicholas Mattielo and were also given their scholarhips, becoming the first NKHS students to receive the gold medal award. The students were accompanied by their coach Chris Fronce - a teacher at NKHS. (Co-coach Thomas Doran was not able to attend.)

The scholarship is funded from the General Assembly's legislative grants program – which recently made headlines with the Institute for International Sport's scandal over explaining how a $575,000 legislative grand was spent.