DANVERS — An Essex Tech senior is among five in the state nominated as a Career and Technical Education Presidential Scholar.

Kaitlyn Swenson of Peabody was nominated by state Education Commissioner Jeff Riley last month. The finalists will be selected and announced by the U.S. Department of Education in April and will attend an awards breakfast in Washington, D.C.

Swenson is a student in Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School’s information technology services program, and she holds a co-op position at Techevolution in Lynn. She is lead editor and webmaster for the school’s literary magazine and webmaster of Hawkspan.net, a student news website.

A National Honor Society member and Red Cross volunteer, Swenson also attended the Harvard Summer Coding Academy in 2018, where she completed a weeklong course on the Python programming language.

“Kaitlyn is truly an exemplary student, and has demonstrated a dedication to her education and to honing her career and leadership skills through on and off-campus opportunities. It’s a pleasure to see her hard work recognized in this way,” Superintendent Heidi Riccio said in a statement.

Each year, the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program recognizes 161 of the country’s most exceptional students. The program expanded in 2015 to include students studying career and technical education.

“The fact that I was chosen for this honor absolutely amazed me at first, but I have come to realize that it is a well-deserved representation of my accomplishments and how far I have come in my educational journey,” Swenson said in a statement. “My experiences as a student, employee and hobbyist have shown me that education is key to success. As a result, I have dedicated myself to being a lifelong learner.”