Mercer Island high school senior Inar Zhang was awarded the Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache Athlete of the Year (SAMMY) Award by The National Milk Mustache “got milk?®” Campaign and USA TODAY.

The SAMMY Award provides $7,500 college scholarships to high school senior student athletes who are top performers in the classroom, in their respective sports, communities and also include milk as part of their daily routine. The scholarship is awarded to 25 outstanding high school athletes who drink milk to stay fit. This year, the winners were selected from nearly 55,000 applicants.

In addition to the scholarship, Zhang will attend an awards weekend at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. with his family where they will attend an awards ceremony. SAMMY winners will don the famous Milk Mustache in their Body By Milk ad that will appear in USA TODAY on June 26, 2009.

“I am so impressed by all 25 of the extremely talented SAMMY winners this year. I’m thrilled that we can continue to recognize and reward students like Inar Zhang for making smart choices both in and outside of the classroom and for continuing to make milk a part of their path to success,” said Vivien Godfrey, CEO of the National Milk Mustache “got milk? ” Campaign.

The award panel cited Zhang’s commitment to academics, athletics, leadership and community service – including all-conference swim honors, having a manuscript published in the Journal of Neuroscience, and selection as a Chemistry Olympiad National Finalist.

For more information on this year’s SAMMY winners and applications for the 2010 SAMMY Award program, visit their Web site, bodybymilk.com.