March 9, 2010 - One hundred seventy-three Austin School District seniors have earned national recognition for their exemplary performance in the National Merit Scholarship Program, the National Hispanic Scholar Award Program, and the National Achievement Scholarship Program for 2010.

Six students earned two awards each, bringing AISD’s National Scholar total for 2010 to 179 total awards. A breakdown by award category shows:

• 36 National Merit Finalists
• 5 National Merit Semifinalists
• 96 National Merit Commended Students
• 35 National Hispanic Scholars
• 7 National Achievement Scholars

 
 
These 173 students are now eligible for scholarship awards from institutions of higher education and other grantors.  
 
"We congratulate these students on earning this national-level recognition, and express our appreciation for the honor they have brought to their schools and to the Austin School District," Superintendent Meria Carstarphen said.  
 
"We are firmly committed to offering a challenging program of study for all students so that they are well prepared for the next chapter of their lives, be it higher education or careers."  
 
Austin ISD students recognized as National Scholars are as follows:  
 
Akins High School — 2 Total  
National Hispanic Scholar (2) — Alexis Arroyo and Aaron Moseley.  
 
 
Anderson High School — 46 Total  
National Merit Finalists (12) — Benjamin Afflerbach, William Brooke, Shannon Carter, Holland Finley, Christopher Gluckman, Maria Lillis, Nicholas Meriwether, Erin Ryan, Leah Singerman, Kali Stewart, Michael Trak, and Madeline Vuong.  
 
National Merit Semifinalist (1) — William Heath.  
 
National Merit Commended Students (29) — Winston Barr, Alexander Benningfield, Caroline Brown, Robert Cowan, Haydn Forrest, Hayley Garcia, Fiona Gilmore, Scott Graves, Rachel Guess, Janashaan Heng-Devan, Carolyn Huang, Jordan Kohler, Barbara Kozinakova, Noah Krell, Jinhyung Lee, Matthew Lyons, Max McCready, Zoe Osherow, Aaron Osmer, Michael Patterson, Aleksandra Ponomareva, Peter Simmons, Ethan Thane, Adrien Waterman, Emma Weizenbaum, Ellen Wilkes, Dor Yoeli, Solomon Zachary, and Laura Zeiler.  
 
National Hispanic Scholars (4) — Hayley Garcia, Clarissa Grayson, Maria Lillis, and Alena Ostos.  
 
 
 
Austin High School — 17 Total  
National Merit Commended Students (9) — Keith Ashorn, Andrew Capshaw, Adam Cmiel, Bethany McKee, Ryan Parks, Lillian Primeaux, Scott Smart, Samuel Suarez, and Rose Tharp.  
 
National Hispanic Scholars (7) — Adam Alvarez, Ultima Castro, Abigail Chavez, Robert Galvan, Leonel Mendez, Alexis Rendon, and Samuel Suarez.  
 
National Achievement Scholar (1) — Dijon Canada.  
 
 
 
Bowie High School — 33 Total  
National Merit Finalists (6) — Tyler Cox, Leigh Graff, Abigail Laurel, Yunlei Liu, Arit Paul, and Allison Smith.  
 
National Merit Semifinalist (1) — Emily Teich.  
 
National Merit Commended Students (16) — Louis Bian, Rene Bourgeois, Patrick Callahan, Kyle Etzel, Nathan Ferguson, Melissa Gilbreath, Gregory Haugen, Trey Henninger, Nur Khamsidi, Ryan Lannan, Jacob Martens, Sarah Miller, Erin Odwyer, Megan Simons, Tilde Snyder, and Joshua Specht.  
 
National Hispanic Scholars (10) — Gabriel Barrera, Christian Corona, Karina Delgado, Megan Garcia, Abigail Laurel, Matthew Lopez, Nicholas Madere, Kristin McHenry, Rebekah Paez, and Kalena Salinas.  
 
 
 
Crockett High School — 2 Total  
National Achievement Scholars (2) — Paris Nelson and Abigail Dunn.  
 
 
 
Garza Independence High School — 1 Total  
National Merit Semifinalist (1) — Paul Daniel Shirk.  
 
 
 
Liberal Arts & Science Academy — 53 Total  
National Merit Finalists (12) — Lokesh Anand, John Buterbaugh, James Eady, Shen Gong, Emma Hubbard, Ran Liu, Jaewon Oh, Zane Rankin, Rina Sadun, Laura Springer, Krishna Venkatarama, and Leah Weiser.  
 
National Merit Commended Students (32) — Hannah Ackerman, Erin Austin, Mallory Bayer, Aurora Bell, Benjamin Bonnen, William Crites-Krumm, Samantha Foree, John Freeland, Helen Irvin, Gabriel Jaffe, Nicole Kurka, Jonathan Lai, Jenny Lau, Samantha Le, Michael Massad, Lee McClenon, Eliza McDonald, Benjamin Mercado, Lauren Miller, Bennett Nadeau, Evelyn Powell, Aaron Price, Ethan Reesor, Abigail Sanders, Eli Schmerler, Kathryn Selcraig, Benjamin Shelton, Kali Slavik, Natasha Smith, Kate Spiesman, Zoe Wolszon, and Alexandra Yin.  
 
National Hispanic Scholars (6) — Rachel Bodenhammer, Nicolas Chapin, Michael Massad, Benjamin Mercado, Nathania Munguia-Kosol, and Jensen Pollard-Maloy.  
 
National Achievement Scholars (3) — Jonathan Henderson, Jaren Lynch, and Joanna Poget.  
 
 
 
McCallum High School — 25 Total  
National Merit Finalists (6) — Andrew Bowen, Austen Hyde, Annie Kuhl, Allison Raven, Laura Robles, and Anna Selby.  
 
National Merit Semifinalists (2) — Kahla Brown and Paul Shirk.  
 
National Merit Commended Students (10) — Jasmine Castellanos, Price Ferchill, Rachel Fresques, Carodyne Holliday, Natalie Houchins, Camron Meko, Michael McCown, Michael Meador, James Parker, and Peter Ravella.  
 
National Hispanic Scholars (6) — Jasmine Castellanos, James Day, Bianca Hinz-Foley, Ethan Moorhead, Laura Robles, Amanda Weems.  
 
National Achievement Scholar (1) — Samantha Williams.