The votes are in: Gallatin's Evetts, Rossview's Yip named Tennessean students of the week

The votes are all in!!

Madison Evetts, of Gallatin High School, and Jay Yip, of Rossview High, have both emerged as The Tennessean's Students of the Week in the Dec. 4 polls, which saw some very close races and our highest voter turnout to date.

Evetts secured just over 38% of the vote, or 28,534 of the 75,047 votes cast, to win the girls' poll, edging out Mt. Juliet High School's Abbie Scoby, who secured 25,327 votes.

Yip won on the male side with about the same number of votes as Scoby. He saw 25,379 of the 66,884 votes cast in the boys' poll with Rick Tzompa, of Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet, quick on his heels with 23,861 votes.

The Tennessean asked principals, teachers and guidance counselors from across the state to participate in the Student of the Week program by sending nominations for their top male and female student.

Readers then picked the best of the best in our polls.

Future polls will combine students of all genders into a single poll with one overall winner and runner up.

Here is a look at all of last week's candidates and why they were nominated:

Girls

Laurel Cox, Cascade High School: Placed first in the individual Future Farmers of America State Dairy Evaluation and ninth in the FFA State Livestock Evaluation. Also, she took second place in the National FFA Convention in Dairy Entrepreneurship, and was named as an official National FFA Convention delegate for two years. Other accolades include: President of Cascade FFA, President of the Cascade National Honor Society and the student appointment to the 2023-24 Tennessee State School Board by Gov. Bill Lee. Cox takes all AP, Dual Enrollment and/or dual credit classes.

Madison Evetts, Gallatin High School: Described as a vivacious student who practices positive leadership, kindness to others and commitment to her faith, Evetts is a four-year member of Gallatin’s Wavettes Dance Team. The Wavettes placed high in several local and national competitions with strong academic achievement and school and community service.

Dounia Ferhat, Martin Luther King Jr., Magnet: The senior had a 2023 summer internship at Vanderbilt's Biomedical Informatics summer program. Through her work there, she was invited to present to the American Medical Informatic Association (AMIA) in New Orleans this fall. She won the AMIA 2023 National Distinguished Poster Award for her work on "Complex data privacy policies for menstrual tracking apps (MTAs) that pose accessibility and security issues and hinder empowerment."

Sophie Houston, Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute: The senior was nominated Miss York Agricultural Institute for exemplifying extracurricular/community involvement, academic excellence, and the consistency of character that we should all strive to accomplish. The senior was also nominated for the 2024 Presidential Scholars Award, is a member of student government, a member of National Honors Society, and takes dual enrollment classes. She’s a Gold Card recipient for all A’s, has good attendance and is a member of the ACT 21+ club. Houston is also a four-year member of the golf team, which was the region runner-up in 2023 and Co-President of Interact Club.

Abbie Scoby, Mt. Juliet High School: The senior scored a 33 on the ACT, including a 35 on the English section. Scoby now has a 4.449 GPA taking multiple AP and dual enrollment classes and is a two-year starter on the soccer team who also played tennis one year. Club participation includes French Honor Society (Founder & President), French Club (President), National Honor Society (Treasurer), Mu Alpha Theta (Treasurer), Golden Leaf Yearbook (Event Manager and Assistant Sports Editor), Bear Talk (Segment Host), Science National Honor Society, PTSO, Prom Committee, Youth in Government, LOVE Choir, Band of Gold, Orchestra, Jazz Band, and Winter Winds. Scoby was named homecoming queen this year, attended the Governor’s School for Humanities and is an AP Scholar with Distinction. She plans to attend college and major in International Business and study abroad.

Elena Zimmerman, Rossview High School: Elena is a member of the drama club, International Thespian Society, National English Honor Society, Junior Classical League, Key Club, Rossview Readers. The senior is also a worship leader at her church. She was a semifinalist for Military Child of the Year and has earned academic excellence awards for outstanding GPA, CMCSS Point of Pride Award and for the Winner of All-Star Cast at THSSDL.

Boys

Zachary Knight, Gallatin High School: Knight is described as a quiet and positive person who leads with actions and has served the community with more than 80 hours of volunteer service. He completed his independent senior math course in two months and has competed on Gallatin's fishing team for six years and has placed high in a variety of local and national fishing tournaments.

Sawyer Lovvorn, Cascade High School: A three-sport varsity athlete and Midstate Athlete of the Week for The Tennessean, Lovvorn is a member of the Youth Leadership Bedford, Student Council and National Honor Society and is the senior class treasurer. He has completed five college level dual enrollment classes and has the highest composite ACT score in the senior class with a 34.

Rick Tzompa, Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet: Accomplishments for the senior include Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar, AP Scholar with Distinction, selected for College Board’s National Hispanic Recognition Program, Tennessee Technology Student Association Distinguished Student Award (2022-23), National Technology Student Association Achievement Program for Pathways of Excellence, local, state, and national recognition 2023, Tennessee’s Spanish Language Seal of Biliteracy, Conexion Americas Latinx Essay and Multimedia Contest Top three Finalist and President of the Spanish National Honor Society.

Cayson Walz, Mt. Juliet High School: The senior scored a 33 on the ACT and has a 4.4 GPA with multiple AP and State Dual Credit classes taken. Walz played football four years and was a captain this year. He was named the Region 4-6A Defensive Player of the Year for this past season and was also named as a Scholar Athlete of the Week earlier this year. He has also been on the Mt. Juliet High E-Sports team for two years and has also helped coach multiple youth football teams. After high school, he plans to attend college and is considering a pre-law major.

Zackary Wills, Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute: The12th-grader is in the ACT 25+ club and has an outstanding Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery score with intentions to be in the armed forces with missionary work also in the future. Zach takes dual enrollment classes, has a part time job, Gold Card recipient for all A’s and has strong attendance. He is an office aid assistant and respected among faculty, staff and peers.

Jay Yip, Rossview High School: The senior has a 4.0 GPA with nine AP, three dual enrollment and seven Honors classes. Jay is a member of Key Club, National Honor Society, Interact Club, Mu Alpha Theta, Science National Honor Society, and National English Honor Society. He plays varsity basketball and tennis, and participates on the math team and APSU Coding Camp. He has been awarded AP Scholar and first place awards in Algebra II and AP Statistics by Tennessee Mathematics Teachers Association. Jay describes himself as adaptive, calculated, and motivated.

Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com or 615-726-5939 and on X, formerly known as Twitter @ AndyHumbles.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Evetts, Yip named Tennessee high school students of the week