Black moves on in national scholarship program
Benicia High senior scored 1520 on PSAT test
Benicia High School cross country runner Brandon Black knows plenty about going the distance.
Black, 17, recently advanced to the semifinals in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship program. He scored a 1520 — the highest score possible — on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT) last year.
Back in April, he was recognized along with classmates Steven Harris, Gabrielle Malte, Niall Mandal and P.J. Morgan after receiving recognition in the prestigious program. Out of more than 1.5 million students, their 2019 PSAT results were in the top 50,000.
With Black’s 1520, he now moves into the semifinals for students across the nation. There are 7,600 National Merit scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be offered in the spring, according to www.nationalmerit.org/.
Black said the test was similar to the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), the assessment that many students take to measure their skills before heading to college.
“I had just taken the SAT, and I did study for that,” said Black, whose family moved from Louisiana to Benicia prior to his freshman year. “The tests were pretty similar.”
Black said he is starting to fill out the application and essay required to become a finalist.
“Partially, I want to win for the scholarship and secondly, there is a lot of prestige that comes with it,” he said. “Right now, I can put that I made the semifinals on my applications for college, so it would be nice to have that added bonus of winning.”
Black said he is interested in a number of schools, notably Georgia Tech, Stanford, Cal Poly, Cal Tech and Texas A&M to name a few. He said he plans to major in electrical engineering, although that could change some time in the future. His GPA for both semesters of junior year was 4.8.
Black said the last time he looked at the list of valedictorian contenders, he was third. Out of six classes this semester, five are Advanced Placement — government, Spanish, literature, statistics and chemistry.
Many of Black’s teachers spoke on his behalf via email:
“Brandon is incredibly bright, and he completes even the most challenging tasks with seeming ease,” said John Baker, his literature and composition teacher. “He is a skillful writer and a deep thinker. With that said, I’ve never seen him show apathy or disengagement with his work or his classmates. He is humble, good-humored, and incredibly likable. While his classmates recognize his exceptional intelligence, they also feel comfortable with him and often razz him, which he clearly enjoys. He’s a great guy, and I’m happy he’s going to be recognized!”
Andreas Kaiser, his AP Computer Science teacher, puts Black among the top students in his career:
“In my 20 years of teaching experience, he is one of the most exceptional students I have ever met,” Kaiser said. “He challenges himself to not only do the best work on projects (some of which I still have on display), but he creates projects on his own. I remember when he was showing me his 3D computer models for a walking skeleton animal called a Strandbeest. He had designed the individual pieces and asked if he could use my laser cutter to realize his vision out of wood. When I asked him what class he was doing this for, he told me it was not for a class. He was creating this 3D mechanical sculpture to challenge himself. Brandon is an inspiration to his teachers and fellow classmates.”
Black also runs cross country at the school. One of his teachers, Kevin Sinats, also coaches him in cross country. Black said his personal-best time in a 3-mile course is 18 minutes, 59 seconds.
All fall sports were postponed until December or January by the California Interscholastic Federation to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“I’ve run for two years and I’d like to run this year but sports seem to be up in the air,” he said. “We’re supposed to start in December but I am skeptical if there will be any sports at all.”