MAYODEN, N.C. — High school students all across North Carolina are working hard toward their goal of graduating and taking their next steps. Spectrum News 1 picked 15 outstanding students to receive a scholarship to help achieve their goals.

This week's Spectrum News 1 High School Scholar is Sterling Lawson, a senior at Dalton L. McMichael High School. She is doing her part in the classroom and the community to make a positive impact on those around her.

Lawson and her teammates are working on a NASA software program competition for Air Force Junior ROTC.

“NASA based software program where we have to pick satellites that can fit into a launch vehicle,” Lawson said.

Lawson is the chief commander of her team, and says she joined because her dad was in the Marine Corps when she was little and it allows a different high school experience.

“I was a cheerleader, and I played tennis. So, this is very different for me. It allows me to fluctuate not only in my discipline skills, but also my leadership skills. And it’s also provided me with a family and a home away from my real home.

And those discipline skills have also helped in the classroom, where she’s one of the top two ranking students in the whole school.

“It’s given me new opportunities that others may not be able to experience, and it also allows me to just grow more and more each day, not only as a student, but as a character as well,” Lawson said.

In college, she plans to major in political science with a minor in sociology, learning the dynamics of people. Upon graduation, she hopes to practice family law

"My parents were separated when I was little. So, I was in the court system so a lot, and I just would really like to help the other people that are going through that and just make a positive impact on their lives,” Lawson said.

Lawson has a 4.0 GPA. Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger presented her a $1,000 scholarship at Dalton L. McMichael High School, surrounded by her family and mentors.

"Sterling is in some respects, she's the scholar of the year because she is the student body president here at McMichael High School, which is in the National Honor Society. And she's recently been accepted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And she's just an all around, good Rockingham County, young lady and someone that we certainly are proud of and are looking forward to great things,” Berger said.