Midway ISD Students Earn Academic Honors in National Merit, College Board Programs
Students at Midway High School continue to uphold their record of success in standardized testing, consistently earning recognition through the National Merit Scholarship Program and College Board National Recognition Programs.
This year’s 22 honorees include two National Merit Semifinalists, three National Merit Commended Students, two National African American Recognition Program Scholars, 10 National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholars, two National Indigenous Recognition Program Scholars, and 10 National First-Generation Recognition Program Scholars.
Over 1.3 million high school juniors entered the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).
Midway's National Merit Semifinalists rank among the highest-scoring students in Texas and are part of an elite nationwide group representing less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors. Semifinalists advancing to the Finalist level for National Merit Scholarship consideration will be announced in the spring.
Those recognized as Semifinalists are Alastair McGrath and Ty Roenfanz; Commended Students are Esther Kim, Lucy X. Lu, and Alistair MacGregor. In addition to being a National Merit Commended Student, senior Esther Kim earned a perfect score of 36 on the ACT.
Additionally, 17 Midway students were identified by one or more College Board National Recognition Programs, which award academic honors to underrepresented students who excel on the PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10, or AP exams and maintain a GPA of 3.3 or higher.
These honorees include:
National African American Recognition: Mercy Odedeji and Jude Turner.
National Hispanic Recognition: Julia Beheler, Zoe Betancis, Ximena Bustamante, Anthony Espinosa, Jamison Garcia, Axton Georges, Ana Hoppe, Sarah Osequera, Tristan Perou, and Stella Raimondo.
National Indigenous Recognition: Calista Pantos and Mason Willis.
National First-Generation Recognition: Zoe Betancis, Ximena Bustamante, Anthony Espinosa, Jamison Garcia, Sarah Osequera, Rylie Graham, Gabriel McEuen, Camille Pankonien, Calista Pantos, and Jude Turner.
Midway High School is also home to 265 students who qualified for an AP Scholar Award—106 with Distinction and 40 with Honor—all with a combined average score of 3.65 on their AP Exams.
Many of Midway's National Merit and College Board honorees are AP Scholar Award recipients as well as varsity athletes, dancers, team captains, orchestra musicians, award-winning artists, a game designer, a co-author of published research, and an international conference presenter.
They plan to pursue a diverse range of college majors, from statistics and accounting to engineering, computer science, biology, and anthropology. In addition to their achievements, they also dedicate their time to volunteering at more than 15 local community organizations.
