Skip to main content
DistrictCampus
CAMPUS

Fourteen AISD Students Earn National Merit Honors


Posted Date: 09/27/2022

Fourteen AISD Students Earn National Merit Honors

September 14, 2022 – Seven Amarillo ISD high school seniors are the only students in the Amarillo and Panhandle area to be named semifinalists in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program, and seven other AISD students have been named National Merit Commended scholars.

2023 National Merit Semifinalists from Amarillo ISD include:

Amarillo High School

  • Michael Carathers

  • Mehtan Rahman

  • Lily Sobey

  • Jeffrey Zheng

Caprock High School

  • Christopher Castaneda

Tascosa High School

  • William Ellis

  • Elijah Hamilton

The National Merit Scholarship Program has also awarded the Commended scholar designation to seven AISD students. 

2023 National Merit Commended Scholars from Amarillo ISD include:

Amarillo High School

  • Eleanor Archer

  • Serenity Canales

  • Sofia Deichert

  • Steven Jalbert 

  • Kaylie Ledbetter

  • Nathaniel Logsdon

Tascosa High School

  • Ethan Evans

High school juniors entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. These students have the opportunity to compete for more than 7,000 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million.

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. To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist's academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.