HEB ISD School & Family Magazine Winter 2017-18 | Page 19

Congratulations National
Merit Semi-Finalists
We are proud to announce three seniors who have been named among the top
one percent of high school students in the country as National Merit Scholarship
Semi-Finalists. These talented students competed against 1.6 million juniors
in more than 22,000 high schools by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National
Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) and earning a top score.
Get to know our National Merit Semi-Finalists:
Gillian Swan plays cello in the L.D. Bell Orchestra, is a National Honor
Society Officer, Junior World Affairs Council Officer, and a member of the
Model United Nations and Mu Alpha Theta (math honor society).
Gillian Swan
Joel Ninan competes in the Robotics Club,
Youth and Government, and the National
Art Honor Society at Trinity. He is also an
International Baccalaureate (IB) student.
Alex Valtchanov is the Section Leader
of the THS Drumline, an IB student, a
member of Mu Alpha Theta, and is studying
Calculus III and Differential Equations in
the evenings at UTA.
Alex Valtchanov
Joel Ninan (left)
From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected
to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this
designation. Finalists will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2,500
Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis.
We would also like to congratulate our National Merit Commended Scholars, and recipients of the National
Hispanic Recognition Program:
National Merit Commended:
Hasnat Ahmad, Trinity
Aliya M. Boisselle, Trinity
Naveed Chowdhry, L.D. Bell
Masha Dyachock, Trinity
Seth Erfurt, Trinity
Jacob Madewell, L.D. Bell
Jannelle Navales, Trinity
Mikayla Olson, Trinity
John Vaughan, L.D. Bell
Colin Williams, Trinity
National Hispanic Recognition
Program:
Edgardy Reyes, L.D. Bell
Alvaro Ronquillo, L.D. Bell
17