Five seniors at Vanguard College Preparatory School (VCPS) have been recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, including one National Merit Semifinalist and four National Merit Commended Students. In addition, four VCPS juniors and seniors have been honored by College Board National Recognition Programs.
National Merit Semifinalist at Vanguard is Sophia Serr.
Sophia scored in the top 1% of students across the nation who took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test and are among six students from Waco, 1,571 from the state of Texas and 16,000 across the U.S. who were named National Merit Semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. These students now have the opportunity to advance to the Finalist level of the competition and compete for $30 million worth of Merit Scholarships.
National Merit Commended Students at Vanguard are DJ Broadway, McKenna Lowrey, Jackson Popejoy and Dahbin Shim.
These students scored among the top 5% of students across the nation who took the PSAT/NMSQT and are among 34,000 students across the U.S. who were recognized for exceptional academic promise.
In addition to VCPS’s five National Merit seniors, four Vanguard juniors and seniors have been honored by the College Board National Recognition Program. These include:
National African American Recognition Program Scholars: Danae Simmons
National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholars: Noah Hale and Jack Meehan
National Indigenous Recognition Program Scholars: Michael Bennett
The College Board National Recognition Programs annually honor 32,000 underrepresented students across the U.S. who excel on the PSAT/NMSQT/PSAT10 or earn a score of 3 or higher on two or more AP Exams; maintain a 3.5 or higher GPA; and identify as African American or Black, Hispanic American or Latinx, Indigenous and/or attend school in a rural area or small town.
“Having nine students recognized by the nation’s top academic scholarship programs is one of the greatest testaments to our exceptional faculty, the academic rigor and the advanced level of course work offered to Vanguard students,” VCPS head of school Bill Borg said. “As a result, our students are well-prepared for college and beyond.”
Over the last 10 years, Vanguard has had 38 students gain National Merit recognition.
