Danielle Lewis & Myah Johnson Named 2026 Nantucket Scholars
David Creed •
Danielle Lewis and Myah Johnson were named the 2026 Nantucket Scholars Tuesday evening at the Nantucket Golf Club, awarding them both with a full four-year college scholarship for all tuition and fees to the university of their choice thanks to the generosity of the Nantucket Golf Club Foundation, which just completed the Nantucket Scholar program's 21st year and has raised over $51 million to benefit Nantucket's youth since being founded in 2002.
"So many things are going through my mind right now," Lewis said. "I'm thankful. I'm grateful. There's another word for thankful I can't think of right now, but that too. It's just so overwhelming. I love it.”
"I'm shocked," Johnson said. "But I'm so grateful. I am so thankful. That's all I can say. I'm just so grateful for every opportunity.”
Lewis committed early and will be attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she will be pursuing biomedical engineering. Former superintendent Mike Cozort said during the ceremony that Lewis' natural aptitude for technology and problem solving made her an indispensable member of the high school tech team.
"My goal growing up has always been to work at NASA as a biomedical flight controller," Lewis said. "A very specific career path, but even if it diverges along the way, it's something I want to experience at least once. But I need to be a biomedical engineer first, and to do that, I need to master in biological engineering first. So that's what I'm doing at MIT.”
Lewis summed up what drives this passion in her interview process with the selection committee, which included Cozort, Tom Bresette (Nantucket Golf Club Foundation executive director), Alan Cunha (Owner of Le Languedoc Inn and Bistro), Peter Greenhalgh (formerly of the Artists Association), and Jonelle Gurley (Director of Science & Programming at Maria Mitchell Association).
“I'm an engineer," Cozort recalled Lewis saying. "I build, I destroy, and I rebuild.” Cozort went on to say “I'm not sure what Danielle will invent or improve in the future, but I have a strong feeling it will benefit the world.”
Johnson is still deciding between Northeastern University, Villanova University, and the University of Connecticut. She has handled the workload of being a three-sport athlete (soccer, swimming, and lacrosse), challenging classwork consisting of six advanced placement courses, and does a variety of community service and charitable work such as assisting with homecoming spirit week and the teacher appreciation breakfast. She is the vice president of her class, the sports anchor on the Whaler Word, and a committed volunteer for the Harvey Foundation, the Nantucket Litter Derby, and Swim Across America.
"I'm going to choose my school by Friday, and then I'm going to school for business," Johnson said. "I'm still figuring out where I want to go with that, but I wanted to study business so I could have different paths to take and really test out what I want to do. And then from there, I'll just see and find my way.”
The other Nantucket Scholar finalists were Annie Ard, Estella Grow, Jacob Heneke, Bianca Japp, Fiona Keltz, Sadie Paterson, Preslava Penkova, Phoenix Ray, Gaven Smith, and Sayam Thapamagar. These 10 students will receive a “significant renewable scholarship” to the school of their choice according Bresette.
Lewis and Johnson each had messages for the Nantucket community.
"Thank you to everyone in the Nantucket community," Lewis said. "Thank you to my mother, to my brother, my family, my friends, my peers and teachers, and I feel like that one Ariana Grande speech where she's just listening off people in like 10 seconds, because there's not enough time to thank everyone, but just thank you to everyone across the board. This is an amazing honor.”
"Thank you," an emotional Johnson said. "Thank you for everything, for all of us. This is amazing, and it's taught me so much. I am so appreciative of it."
And what will they do to celebrate?
“My Mom is probably going to make me clean my room if I am being honest,” Lewis said with a chuckle.
“Homework,” Johnson said laughing. “I have a lot of homework to do. Maybe eat some cake”
The 2026 Professional Scholarship finalists were also introduced and will receive a significant renewable scholarship to the school of their choice. They are Emery Bouchard, Dayanara Garcia, Adriana Graham, Chelsea Gross, Charlotte Hoilman, Cora Iller, Kaitlyn Konkel, Justice Kyomitmaitee, Dorian Manov, William Martin, Carley Ray, Xavy Rivas Rondon, Ryder Tartamella, Estefany Tejada Aguilar, and Dakara Turner. These students will be pursuing education in the trades. The program was originally introduced as the Nantucket Vocational Scholarship Program nine years ago before being renamed to the Professional Scholarship program in recent years.
This year, there were a total of 27 scholarship recipients - the most ever. These students were chosen from 60 applications. The NGCF is currently managing nearly 100 scholarships for Nantucket graduates.
