Winners selected from talent pool of more than 15,000 finalists
Ten Houston Independent School District students from five high schools have been named National Merit Scholarship winners and will each receive a scholarship for their undergraduate studies. The winners, selected from a pool of more than 15,000 finalists nationwide, were awarded based on their ability to demonstrate the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential success in rigorous college studies.
HISD National Merit Scholarship Winners: (Pictures available upon request.)
- Andrew M. Alter – Bellaire High School
- Peter Elmers – Bellaire High School
- Katherine Fang – Bellaire High School
- Aaron J. Mao – Bellaire High School
- Diana T. Ruan – Bellaire High School
- Mohammad F. Bilal – DeBakey High School for Health Professions
- Smruti Rath – DeBakey High School for Health Professions
- Auburn H. Lee – High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
- Angela Chang – Lamar High School
- Konstantinos K. Varvarezos – Westside High School
Approximately 1.5 million juniors nationwide took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test to qualify for this program, of which only 16,000 semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition. By the end of the 2013 program, about 8,000 finalists will have won National Merit Scholarships worth over $35 million.
Founded in 1955, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation is a nonprofit corporation that operates without government assistance to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.