Sept. 13, 2006

GCISD celebrates 14 National Merit Semifinalists

Fourteen Grapevine-Colleyville ISD high school students have been named semifinalists in the 2007 National Merit Scholarship Program.

“We are very proud of these students and their recognition as National Merit semifinalists,” said Dr. Kay Waggoner, superintendent. “They are extremely dedicated and committed to high standards and exemplary performance, traits that will prepare them for success tomorrow and in the future.”

Of GCISD’s 14 semifinalists, five attend Colleyville Heritage High School and nine attend Grapevine High School. Last year, GCISD had a total of 17 semifinalists.

The National Merit Program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. An estimated 16,000 semifinalists – less than 1 percent of high school seniors nationwide – were announced Sept. 13 by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. They were chosen based on their scores from the 2005 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test and are among the students scoring the highest in the state.

Semifinalists at Colleyville Heritage High School are: Melissa Butler of Colleyville, Min Young Chung of Colleyville, Lauren Riddle of Colleyville, Adrianna Tam of Colleyville and Daniel Virtheim of Euless.

Semifinalists at Grapevine High School are: Nicholas Borgers of Colleyville, Milena Fertitta of Colleyville, Cole Ford of Colleyville, Sarah Mannen of Grapevine, Katherine Martin of Grapevine, Robert Musgrave of Colleyville, Nicole Paynter of Grapevine, Jeremy Smith of Grapevine and Roger Su of Grapevine.

The semifinalists will be recognized at a reception hosted by the Grapevine-Colleyville Education Foundation and during the regular GCISD Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 23.

Those students selected as finalists will compete for a total of $33 million in scholarships from the National Merit Corporation, corporate sponsors and college/university sponsors. Merit Scholarship winners will be announced beginning in April.