Year after year, Midway High School students continue to uphold their legacy of outstanding performance in standardized testing. This year’s group of National Merit and College Board honorees undoubtedly carries on this tradition of excellence with the highest number of recognitions—17 in total—since 2016.
This record number includes four Semifinalists and five Commended Scholars in addition to three students receiving recognition through multiple programs as both National Indigenous and National Hispanic Scholars.
With a variety of interests ranging from robotics to linguistics, Midway’s National Merit students are already on the path to becoming world changers. This year’s group of honorees includes multiple symphony orchestra concertmasters, soccer and debate team captains, a NASA intern and a powerlifter, and is full of aspiring engineers, school teachers and doctors. In addition to earning academic recognition, they have founded clubs to address food insecurity and been awarded for countless hours spent giving back to their community through volunteer service.
Out of the 1.5 million students who took the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, only the top 3.33% with the highest scores qualify for recognition in the 2023 National Merit Program. Five Midway students are among approximately two-thirds of these high scorers who receive recognition as Commended Scholars, and the remaining one-third are named Semifinalists.
Midway’s four Semifinalists, who represent some of the highest scores on the PSAT/NMSQT in the state of Texas, are among the top 1% of U.S. high school seniors qualified to earn this prestigious honor. Semifinalists advancing to the finalist level will be announced in February 2023.
College Board’s National Recognition Programs also identified an impressive nine Midway students who scored among the top 10% of students in Texas on the PSAT/NMSQT as National Scholars.
Congratulations to the following Midway High School students on their achievements:
Semifinalists:
Tristan Newman
Hunter Shi
Samuel Thaller
Thomas Warkentine
Commended Scholars:
Sadie Hynan
Kailea Kuecker
Cara McMillan
Toby Meldrum
Josie Sim
National African American Scholars:
Megan Carroll
Ryann Evans
National Hispanic Scholars:
Alexa Barrera
Isabella Diaz
Andrea Mar
Savannah Ortiz
Hannah Padilla
Samuel Thaller
Abner Feliciano Toledo
National Indigenous Scholars:
Samuel Thaller
Savannah Ortiz
Alexa Barrera
