To those who know him, it is no surprise that Signal’s Valedictorian Logan Dapp is a semifinalist for the prestigious U.S. Presidential Scholarship. He is only the second senior from Signal Mountain Middle/High School to make it this far. (Yoonie Yang was the first in 2021.)
Only 18 Tennessee students were chosen as semi-finalists based on test scores, academic achievement, personal characteristics, leadership, service, and essays. Only 161 students out of 3.8 million current seniors will be selected as U.S. Presidential Scholars nationwide, and we certainly hope Logan is one.
Honors and awards are no stranger to Logan, who is the son of Steve and Mika Dapp.
He is also a National Merit Finalist and ACT ace.
Logan received a perfect score of 36 on the ACT college-entrance exam in February 2023, which was technically his second attempt at this test. His first was as a seventh-grader, when he earned a perfect score on the math section.
Amazingly, Logan won the title “Math League Champion” at Signal in seventh grade and has retained that title ever since.
As an eighth-grader, Logan scored among the top 5 percentile among other high-achieving students nationwide on a competition (the AMC 8) that reportedly leads the nation in strengthening the mathematical capabilities of the next generation of problem-solvers.
At that time, Jamie Brock, one of the school’s teachers in the Gifted program, noted, “We have a lot of smart kids in math at our school, but Logan has a love and passion in math that I’ve never seen before. It’s crazy!”
He has described mathematics and science as “intrinsically beautiful. There is no garble or semantics riddling its rules. It is just nature in its purest form.”
When asked a couple years ago about his love for learning, Logan replied, “The world is a fascinating place, and trying to grasp its concepts shows you the true beauty of it. There is always something interesting to learn and discover.”
Verena Draper, Signal’s German teacher for the Diploma Programme, describes Logan as “an amazing young man, one of those students who goes above and beyond every single day.
“In the three years I taught him, there has never been a day where he was off or didn’t give his best,” she said. “He is unfailingly polite and keeps asking for feedback to constantly improve. He always helps his classmates, and it makes him happy to help others.”
Logan’s parents are grateful that he values his friends and brothers - Douglas, UAB Magna cum laude graduate, and Seven, a rising sophomore at Signal.
They have also enjoyed watching his relentless pursuit of knowledge and academics and said he has been obsessed with numbers and quantifying things from a very early age. He was admitted to UTC as a high school sophomore and took classes in discrete mathematics for computer science and elementary linear algebra.
Over the years, this young man has excelled in many other areas.
Logan has been the top German student in his grade every year and has won many competitions in science, geography, and music. As a freshman flutist, he qualified for TNMEA All State Concert Band, sadly a non-performance that year due to COVID, but qualified again the next year and performed in Nashville.
When given the choice of projects, Logan always chooses something seemingly infeasible.
His father recalls him saying that he tries to “ride the boundary of what’s possible” and adds that he’s learned so much doing so. Logan is famous for making each of his school projects a mini thesis, whether it be a physics lab or a mathematics paper.
Logan has recently been inducted to Mu Alpha Theta and is a member of the National Honor Society, Beta Club, and Science National Honor Society.
Former Nolan Elementary and SMMHS Principal Shane Harwood previously described Logan as “an amazing young man not only because of his focus on and achievements in academics, but also because of his character and the type of friend he is to others.”
As a rising junior, Logan attended the Governor’s School for Computational Physics at Austin Peay State University. Interested in applying the techniques showcased in his classes, Logan took it upon himself to stay up a couple nights to program a 3D Fluid Simulation, utilizing the Navier-Stokes equations.
The following summer, he attended the American Legion Boys’ State program and was voted by his peers as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Logan has expanded his efforts to other educational and philanthropic activities.
At SMMHS, Logan led many big projects by the Leo Club (affiliated with Signal Mountain Lions Club) as the “director of operations,” including the Meals of Hope program, funded by the Lions Club; organizing more than 100 volunteers in making 85 blankets for Erlanger; and running multiple highly successful blood drives.
In addition to volunteer work, Logan has a love for civics.
He has served three years in the Hamilton County Youth Court program and been an attorney on the Mock Trial team for four years, participating in the state competition twice with his team named as State runner-up his junior year.
What is Logan’s advice to others?
“Do what you love and do it well and indefatigably,” he said. “By pushing yourself to do what’s seemingly impossible, you will strengthen yourself against the future and be ready for anything.”
Logan plans to study computer science with an emphasis on artificial intelligence development and implementation at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he will be in the Honors College and has already been selected to participate as a freshman in a research scholar program.
“Logan is a phenomenal student with a keen interest in mathematics and coding,” said Katharine Lubinski, IB physics and math teacher. “I am sure Logan will excel in whatever path he chooses to pursue.”
In addition to doing research and participating in groups related to his majors at Florida, Logan plans to continue studying German and wants to eventually study abroad.
Best wishes to Logan in all his endeavors, and we look forward to hearing about future accomplishments!
by Melissa Barrett
Only 18 Tennessee students were chosen as semi-finalists based on test scores, academic achievement, personal characteristics, leadership, service, and essays. Only 161 students out of 3.8 million current seniors will be selected as U.S. Presidential Scholars nationwide, and we certainly hope Logan is one.
Honors and awards are no stranger to Logan, who is the son of Steve and Mika Dapp.
He is also a National Merit Finalist and ACT ace.
Logan received a perfect score of 36 on the ACT college-entrance exam in February 2023, which was technically his second attempt at this test. His first was as a seventh-grader, when he earned a perfect score on the math section.
Amazingly, Logan won the title “Math League Champion” at Signal in seventh grade and has retained that title ever since.
As an eighth-grader, Logan scored among the top 5 percentile among other high-achieving students nationwide on a competition (the AMC 8) that reportedly leads the nation in strengthening the mathematical capabilities of the next generation of problem-solvers.
At that time, Jamie Brock, one of the school’s teachers in the Gifted program, noted, “We have a lot of smart kids in math at our school, but Logan has a love and passion in math that I’ve never seen before. It’s crazy!”
He has described mathematics and science as “intrinsically beautiful. There is no garble or semantics riddling its rules. It is just nature in its purest form.”
When asked a couple years ago about his love for learning, Logan replied, “The world is a fascinating place, and trying to grasp its concepts shows you the true beauty of it. There is always something interesting to learn and discover.”
Verena Draper, Signal’s German teacher for the Diploma Programme, describes Logan as “an amazing young man, one of those students who goes above and beyond every single day.
“In the three years I taught him, there has never been a day where he was off or didn’t give his best,” she said. “He is unfailingly polite and keeps asking for feedback to constantly improve. He always helps his classmates, and it makes him happy to help others.”
Logan’s parents are grateful that he values his friends and brothers - Douglas, UAB Magna cum laude graduate, and Seven, a rising sophomore at Signal.
They have also enjoyed watching his relentless pursuit of knowledge and academics and said he has been obsessed with numbers and quantifying things from a very early age. He was admitted to UTC as a high school sophomore and took classes in discrete mathematics for computer science and elementary linear algebra.
Over the years, this young man has excelled in many other areas.
Logan has been the top German student in his grade every year and has won many competitions in science, geography, and music. As a freshman flutist, he qualified for TNMEA All State Concert Band, sadly a non-performance that year due to COVID, but qualified again the next year and performed in Nashville.
When given the choice of projects, Logan always chooses something seemingly infeasible.
His father recalls him saying that he tries to “ride the boundary of what’s possible” and adds that he’s learned so much doing so. Logan is famous for making each of his school projects a mini thesis, whether it be a physics lab or a mathematics paper.
Logan has recently been inducted to Mu Alpha Theta and is a member of the National Honor Society, Beta Club, and Science National Honor Society.
Former Nolan Elementary and SMMHS Principal Shane Harwood previously described Logan as “an amazing young man not only because of his focus on and achievements in academics, but also because of his character and the type of friend he is to others.”
As a rising junior, Logan attended the Governor’s School for Computational Physics at Austin Peay State University. Interested in applying the techniques showcased in his classes, Logan took it upon himself to stay up a couple nights to program a 3D Fluid Simulation, utilizing the Navier-Stokes equations.
The following summer, he attended the American Legion Boys’ State program and was voted by his peers as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Logan has expanded his efforts to other educational and philanthropic activities.
At SMMHS, Logan led many big projects by the Leo Club (affiliated with Signal Mountain Lions Club) as the “director of operations,” including the Meals of Hope program, funded by the Lions Club; organizing more than 100 volunteers in making 85 blankets for Erlanger; and running multiple highly successful blood drives.
In addition to volunteer work, Logan has a love for civics.
He has served three years in the Hamilton County Youth Court program and been an attorney on the Mock Trial team for four years, participating in the state competition twice with his team named as State runner-up his junior year.
What is Logan’s advice to others?
“Do what you love and do it well and indefatigably,” he said. “By pushing yourself to do what’s seemingly impossible, you will strengthen yourself against the future and be ready for anything.”
Logan plans to study computer science with an emphasis on artificial intelligence development and implementation at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he will be in the Honors College and has already been selected to participate as a freshman in a research scholar program.
“Logan is a phenomenal student with a keen interest in mathematics and coding,” said Katharine Lubinski, IB physics and math teacher. “I am sure Logan will excel in whatever path he chooses to pursue.”
In addition to doing research and participating in groups related to his majors at Florida, Logan plans to continue studying German and wants to eventually study abroad.
Best wishes to Logan in all his endeavors, and we look forward to hearing about future accomplishments!
by Melissa Barrett
RSS Feed