Top scholar nurtures love for the theater
Gloria Dossett described her former student Patrick Johnson "as individual as they get."
Dossett, who was the head of the theater department and chairwoman of the fine arts department at Augusta Preparatory Day School, said Patrick is truly unique.
"He has an ethereal quality about himself," she said.
Patrick, a 17-year-old senior at Augusta Prep, recently was selected as a semi-finalist in the National Achievement Scholarship Program, which awards scholarships to black high school students based on their performance on the SAT.
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He'll find out in December if he is a recipient of one of more than 775 scholarships that will be awarded nationwide this year.
"I'm really hoping I'll be awarded one," said Patrick, who wants to major in political science but is undecided on the college he will attend after graduating next spring. "I want to go into law. I'm pretty interested in debate, so I think I'd like law."
At Augusta Prep, Patrick is on the debate team, is involved in theater and is a member of the National Honor Society and the Honor Education Council. He also serves on The Augusta Chronicle's teen board.
"I'm pretty much in whatever theater production we are doing at school," said Patrick, the son of Cedric and Vicki Johnson of Augusta and Patricia Johnson, also of Augusta. "Apart from debate, theater and school, it pretty much occupies my time."
Augusta Prep's Patrick Johnson is a semifinalist in the National Achievement Scholarship Program.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Last year, Patrick was awarded the National Forensic League Degree of Honor for debate. He also was named an Augusta State University Scholar and a Wofford Scholar by Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. Both honors were awarded for scholarship, leadership and service.
A student at Augusta Prep since he was a freshman, Patrick said he has "enjoyed the experience. It's been challenging, but I've enjoyed it a lot."
Dossett recalls her former student with great fondness, saying that if she had to find one word in the English language to describe Patrick, it would have to be "self-possessed."
"He's not someone who follows the herd. He's not carried off on the latest fad," said Dossett, who is now the producing artistic director for the Occasional Theatre Company in North Augusta.
Joyce Suber, Augusta Prep's director of college counseling, called Patrick a rare find.
"I fully expect to hear that Patrick Johnson has become a man of distinction in business, politics or some other field in the years to come," Suber said. "He is certainly in possessions of all the qualities that make for great success. He is an inquisitive, industrious scholar who is extremely fluent in Spanish, a talented actor and student of drama, a computer wiz and a very mature young man of impeccable character."