Grapevine-Colleyville ISD is proud to recognize the 15 members of the Class of 2021 who have been named National Merit Semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Over the past 10 years, GCISD has celebrated the recognition of 174 National Merit Semifinalists. In the last five years, 104 GCISD students have been named Semifinalists.
GCISD’s 15 Semifinalists, listed below, learned about their accomplishments on WebEx virtual sessions with their campus principal.
Colleyville Heritage High School
Brooke Butler
Tim DeSimone
Caroline Gao
Elizabeth Hoff
Ashwin Katta
Katherine Larimer
Cade Miller
Caden Miller
Mia Stertzer
Kendrick Yamamoto
Grapevine High School
Katherine Brigham
Grant Ghormley
Nicolas Heredia
Mitchel Miners
Jack Rogers
Over 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, 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. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
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, and write an essay.
Those that advance to the Finalist level will be notified of this designation in February. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.