HISD Students Selected as National Merit Scholarship Winners

Six Houston Independent School District students have been selected among the final group of National Merit Scholarship winners announced for 2012.  A total of 26 HISD students were awarded National Merit Scholarships this year for undergraduate studies.  Each student will receive a $2,500 award.  Here are the recent winners.

  •  Jonas A. Actor – Carnegie Vanguard High School
  • Hader Ali – Lamar High School
  • Victor S. Prieto – Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions
  • Mitchell A. Sawyer – Bellaire High School
  • Frederick D. Vu – Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions
  • Lawrence Y. Zhu – Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions

 Here are the previously announced winners for 2012:

  • Olivia Arena – Bellaire High School
  • Dana Felberg – Bellaire High School
  • Meghana Golla – Bellaire High School
  • Weiting Ji – Bellaire High School
  • Amy Jiang – Bellaire High School
  • Joseph Lewis – Bellaire High School
  • Carrie Li – Bellaire High School
  • Natalia Majewska – Bellaire High School
  • Denes Marton – Bellaire High School
  • Ankeet Mutha – Bellaire High School 
  • Adriana Pantazis – Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions
  • Spencer Shen –  High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
  • Lavanya Sunder – Lamar High School
  • Jincy Varughese – Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions
  • David Williams – Bellaire High School
  • John Williams – Bellaire High School
  • Yihui Yang – Carnegie Vanguard High School 
  • Daniel Yun – Bellaire High School
  • Ni Zhan – Bellaire High School
  • Zhongmin Zhang –  Bellaire High School 

The winners were juniors when they received the highest scores on the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test.  The students also had to demonstrate an outstanding academic record; had to be actively involved in their school and the community and had to be recommended by a high school official. This year approximately 8,100 students nationwide will receive National Merit Scholarships totaling more than $35 million.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Scholarship Program.  Over the past 57 years, more than 292,000 students have won National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $1 billion.  

The majority of awards offered each year are underwritten by approximately 440 independent corporate and college sponsors that support NMSC’s efforts to recognize scholastically talented youth and to encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.