Conroe ISD recognizes National Merit semifinalists

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas -- The Conroe ISD Board of Trustees gave special recognition to the 2017-2018 Conroe ISD National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists Recipients at their meeting on Tuesday.

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school eleventh grade students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), a test which serves as an initial screening of approximately 1.5 million entrants representing roughly 22,000 high schools. Around 50,000 students with the highest PSAT/NMSQT Selection Index scores qualify for recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Of the 50,000 recognized students, about 16,000 students are notified that they have qualified as Semifinalists each September. To ensure that academically able young people from all parts of the United States are included in this talent pool, semifinalists are designated on a state representational basis. They are the highest scoring entrants in each state. In February 2018, approximately 15,000 semifinalists will be notified by mail that they have advanced to Finalist level.

Conroe ISD Semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program are:

Oak Ridge High School – Christopher Heard

The Woodlands College Park - Randall Barron, David Cao, Jacob Davis, Stephanie Du, Josephine Harras, Christopher Hatch, Eric Imhoff, Isabella Le, Lilia Li, Jonathon Lowe, Samuel Packer, Sreya Rahman, Sanjana Ramchandran, Shane Rees, Vishnu Sajit, Indiana Schnicer, Oluwatobi Soares, Mingyang Yuan

The Woodlands High School - Victoria Cottrell, Kenneth Kessinger, Evan Lee, Clark Poon, Conor Powers

Mr. James Kacur, Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education, introduced Coordinator of Guidance and Counseling Denise Cipolla who presented the extraordinary scholars to the Board.

In his remarks congratulating the students, Trustee Ray Sanders said, “You are fine students and we are very proud of you being a part of Conroe ISD.”