Local students honored by National Merit program
Seven Yuma County students have been recognized by the National Merit Scholarship program.
Kofa High School senior Amanda De La Torre is a National Merit Semifinalist while Yuma Catholic High School student Nicolas Hugh is a National Hispanic Merit Scholar as are San Luis High School students Andres Guerrero, Natalia Corrales, and Jaqueline Vargas. Gila Ridge’s Allison Taylor is also a National Hispanic Merit Scholar.
Cibola senior Natalie Scott has been named a “Commended Student” by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
The three honors are highly competitive. About 1.6 million students take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, or PSAT/NMSQT. Of those students, some 50,000 students with the highest Selection Index scores are named either a commended student or semifinalist, according to The College Board, which administers the National Merit program. There are about 34,000 commended students, and of those, 16,000 become semifinalists.
Semifinalists are designated on a state-representational basis, according to the College Board’s website. They are the highest scoring entrants in each state, with each state setting its own scoring cutoffs.
Semifinalist De La Torre now has an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $32 million. She joins a pool of semifinalists that represent less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors.
“For Amanda, it is a great honor because of how hard she has worked both inside and outside of the classroom,” Kofa guidance counselor Denise Avalos Lopez said. “Having a student from Kofa earn a recognition like this also really reflects the work from our staff members on campus as well.”
To be recognized as a National Hispanic Scholar, Hugh had to rank among the top 250,000 students who take the PSAT/NMSQT. They also must achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher by the middle of their junior year.
Scott, a senior, will be presented the award by Cibola Principal Tim Brienza during Senior Awards night in May. While students with “commended” status do not advance in the scholarship competition, they are still among the top 50,000 test scorers.
“The young men and women being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success, “said a spokesperson for NMSC. “These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success.”