PARIS – Of all the things Shelby Stevens has achieved so far in her young life, the best by far was being named one of 138 Presidential Scholars in the country.

She earned the distinction after surviving brain cancer at age 4 and living with its after-effects, including vision problems and a tendency toward obsessive-compulsive behavior.

“I am a cancer survivor who doesn’t waste time,” she wrote beside her picture in the 2003 Presidential Scholar yearbook.

Each year the federal Department of Education’s Commission on Presidential Scholars selects one boy and one girl from each state, based on their academic success, leadership, and school and community involvement. It’s one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students.

It’s only the third time in 30 years a student from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School has won the award. Stevens and more than 2,000 other students were invited to apply for the honor based on their exceptionally high Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Stevens’ combined score was 1,480.

The 2003 OHCHS graduate, 11th in her class of 220, was selected based on her submitted essays, transcript, resume and recommendations from teachers.

Sitting on the couch in the living room of her Penley Street home Tuesday, the 18-year-old opens a blue velvet box to reveal a prized possession: a thick, heavy gold medallion attached to a red, white and blue ribbon.

She received the medal when she and her mother, Terry, father, Dean, and sister Annie, 12, traveled to Washington last month for a week of receptions, ceremonies and meetings with government officials.

“She’s done a very good job,” said her mother. “She works very hard. She throws herself into everything she does.”

As part of the competition, Stevens was asked to write an essay about the teacher who has been the most influential in her life. She said she chose her chemistry teacher, Dennis Brown, because of how dedicated he is to helping his students learn chemistry.

Stevens, who plans to attend the University of Maine Orono this fall on a National Merit Scholarship, appreciates dedication.

It was dedication that allowed her to learn how to walk and talk again, after a grapefruit-size tumor wrapped around her cerebellum was surgically removed in 1989.

“We were fortunate that the damage that happened wasn’t cognitive,” said Terry Stevens. “It was physical.”

The tumor’s pressure irreparably damaged brain cells responsible for motor function and vision. She lost half of her cerebellum when the tumor was removed. She was at first completely paralyzed on the right side of her body, and couldn’t speak.

“Once she became alert again she was a very angry child,” Terry Stevens said.

Shelby wanted to run and play and shout like she did before. And so she did, after an intensive regimen of physical and occupational therapy. The family opted against radiation therapy, because of the possibility of causing mental impairment.

She had to wear a helmet until first grade to protect her brain while her scull bone, removed in the craniotomy, slowly grew back.

Said Shelby, “My consolation was Chrissie,” the family collie, whose death a few years back inspired her decision to become a veterinarian. “Even if I can’t, I want to open a hospice or shelter for older pets,” she said.

At age eight, the cancer came back, when a routine scan revealed a tumor the size of a kidney bean. A second operation removed it, and she’s been tumor-free since.

She has learned to compensate for any lingering motor difficulties “by trying new approaches, and practice, practice, over and over again,” she said.

Her willingness to practice long and hard won her a spot on the high school cheerleading team her junior and senior year, and also won letters in track and cross-country running. She’s also won awards in softball and alpine skiing. She placed third in the state in an American Legion National Honor Society oratorical competition.

Her kid sister, Annie, summed it up: “She likes to show people that she can do things other people say she can’t.”

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