This year, 220 Austin ISD seniors earned recognition for outstanding academic performance from the U.S. Presidential Scholars, National Merit Finalists, National Merit Semifinalists, National Merit Commended Scholars and College Board National Hispanic Scholars programs.

Those recognized include two Presidential Scholar Candidates, 56 National Merit Finalists, 37 Scholars for the National Hispanic Recognition Program and 138 National Merit Commended students. Thirteen students received recognition in more than one program.

Students selected as candidates for the Presidential Scholars Program have scored exceptionally well on either the SAT or the ACT, or have been nominated by the state's education commissioner. Students selected as U.S. Presidential Scholars receive an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., and a U.S. Presidential Scholars medallion.

Students are selected for the National Merit Scholarship Program based on their scores on the preliminary SAT exam, which they take as juniors. Because of their high scores on this assessment, the students are eligible for scholarship awards from grantors and institutions of higher education.

Akins High School, Principal Brandi Hosack

National Merit Finalist – Truman Byrd

National Hispanic Recognition – Brittany Arellano, Isaac Castenada, Noel Gil

Anderson High School, Principal Sammi Harrison

Presidential Scholar Candidate – Ben A. Caven

National Merit Finalists – Riley Elizabeth Allen, Adam Michael Ard, Vivian Elizabeth Francis, Carina Pauline Howlett, Jennifer Seoyoung Kwon, Sadie Grace Seddon-Stettler, Casey Joseph Sullivan

National Hispanic Recognition – Kevin Aguilar, Beck Burgelin, Nicholas Brooks Keough, Ethan Gerardo Martinez Torres, Adriana Sarmiento Navarro

National Merit Commended – Andres Almazan, James Kincaid Bass, Patrick Creede Beale, William Nelson Blount, Andrew Ryan Bracamontez, Beck Burgelin, Ben A. Caven, Chloe Elizabeth Damommio, Bill Dang, Emily Hope Fonken, John Lee Gillies, Christina Nicole Howell, Cory William Kittleman, Tiffany Lourdraj, Meredith Taylor Malone, Steven Jerome Manning, Colin Jerome McCarson, Kathryn Hart Meyer, Amie Huyen Nguyen, Alexander Nicholas, Jared Crowson Rowe, Alexander Reagan Searcy, Joseph Raymond Stephany, Zak Samuel Turner, Zachary Thomas Ward, Andreas Hunter Weyland, Alexander Nicholas White, Mary Helen White

Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, Principal Kristina Waugh

National Merit Finalist – Willow Dalehite

National Hispanic Recognition – Emily Weaver

Austin High School, Principal Amy Taylor

National Merit Commended – Fiona Girotti, Evan Kersey, Meredith Moore

Bowie High School, Principal Mark Robinson 

National Merit Finalists – Daniel S. Baltoi, Lindsey E. Cottle, Tyler D. David, Clara T. Martin

National Hispanic Recognition – Rose E. Eichelmann, James Gus Garcia, David M. Huerta, Alejandra Maria Rivera, Marissa M. Warren

National Merit Commended – Matthew E. Ankele, Tasha L. Anslyn, Megan E. Bell, Hana V. Dole, Haroon A. Dossani, Diana G. Dunn, Hannah J. Erington, Jennifer D. Hoang, Zachary J. Houdek, Sean D. Lloyd, Shane T. Lockhoof, Emily A. Robinett, Kathleen M. Stephenson, Reed J. Syzdek

Liberal Arts and Science Academy, Principal Stacia Crescenzi

Presidential Scholar Candidate – Rachel Fuller

National Merit Finalists – Ojas Ahuja, Samuel Alvis, Vada Andrews, Shane Aung, Shubhanga Ballal, Noam Ben-Avi, Kevin Black, Jackson Blankenship, Isabelle Blaha, Clara Bogard, Tatum Brown, Russell Coleman, Calvin Coulbury, Zoe Czarnecki, Abhimanyu Dhir, Aidan Dulaney, Noah Hanser-Young, Vincent Hao, Anish Katta, Megan Le, Edward Lee, Sage Lee, Hattie Lindell, Ryan Mcgauley, Jacob Nannapaneni, Ella Nasi, Eleanor Nichols, Julia Penick, Anna Poterek, Dylan Read, Neha Sangana, James Schmeil, Isaac Stone, Michael Taleff, Harrison Tran, Lia Wiese, Ellie Windsor, Ricky Zhou

National Hispanic Recognition – Anisah Aguilar, Josephine Boulware, Matthew Cabello, Mia Cooper, Dylan Cox, Caroline Diaz, Cassidy Dreyfus, Asher Eaton, John Hardin, Michael Johnson, Logan Kinnaman, Gabriela Madrid, Alexander Mancevski, Ryan Mcgauley, Jacob Nannapaneni, Jorge Quiroga, Jacob Roth, Aidan Sankar, Andrew Stowers, Alice Sullivan, Astrid Torres-Johnson

National Merit Commended – Akshara Anand, Griffin O Ancipink, James Beckett, Sai Pranathi Bingi, Hanna Bottema, Christian Brewster, Marcella Cannatti, Ella Carlander, Alexander Carter, Alabel Chapin, Raavi Chokhawala, Alexander Cohan, Kieran Cosgrove, Dylan Cox, Aaron Crisler, Mia Crockett, Johnny Dang, Devang Deepak, Cassidy Dreyfus, Rachel Fuller, Jonathan Flukinger, Cade Foster, Nicholas Gonzalez, Emma Green, Julia Grim, Andrew Hall, Nicholas Hammel, John Hardin, Madeleine Havranek, Rebecca Hicke, Evan Hildebrandt, Emma Hopper, Lilliam Hotz, Abigail Hricik, Avram Hurewitz, Eleanor Jewart, Aadarsh Jha, Michael Johnson, Tasi Jones, Alex Kachkine, Mihir Kamble, Stephanie Kanbe, Tyler Kaung, Kanoa Kelly, Prerna Kundalgurki, Eva Legge, Angela Li, Ethan Lim, Sarah Lucas, Joanna Ma, Lila Madden, Gabriela Madrid, Alexander Mancevski, Lauren Mangibin, Alexander McLeod, Imaan Moin, Cameron Murdock, Ulan Notzon, Grace Olwell, Shea Popov, Oliver Powers, Shruti Prasad, Srikari Punyamurtula, Clara Richardson, Ethan Rivers, Jacob Roth, Aidan Sankar, Ethan Schaffer,Emma Seaborn, Noah Shimizu, Alexander Siegenthaler, Katherine Siegenthaler, Carly Smith, Graham Stockton, Roy Stracovsky, Caitlin Tibbetts, Emma Tiblier, Dessie Tien, Sawyer Timco, Zoe Trungale, Sreenidhi Tupuri, James Uyeki, Sahil Vaidya, Vasanti Varma, Caroline Voges, Samantha Wallace, Jane Walters, Lara Williams 

McCallum High School, Principal Michael Garrison

National Merit Finalists – Sierra J. Guequierre, Nico Leuba Jones, Pablo F. Kennedy, Aubrey I. Rowan, Amon A. Stewart

National Hispanic Recognition – Caleb L. Herpin, Pablo Kennedy

National Merit Commended – Vivien P. Blumofe, Ryan P. Chatterjee, Kaitlin E. Knifton, Malcom S. Jackson, Oscar W. Kelban

The U.S. Presidential Scholars Program was established in 1964 to recognize and honor some of the nation's most distinguished high school seniors. Each year, up to 141 students are named Presidential Scholars.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is an independent, nonprofit organization. Since 1955, the NMSC has recognized 3 million students and provided approximately 387,000 scholarships worth a total of more than $1.5 billion.