Commenting on this announcement, the Academy’s Head of School Andrew Watson said, “I’m so proud of our students and teachers for the hard work they put into these outstanding results. This is the eighth year in a row that Academy students have placed in the top ten in the nation among independent schools in our number of National Merit Semifinalists. The promise of these students will play out for many years around New Mexico, the nation, and the world.”
Approximately 1.4 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®) which served as an initial screen of program participants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors and includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
Congratulations to the Academy’s 2015 Semifinalists: Ben Albin, Max Bernstein, John Chappell, Andy Chen, Megan Culler, Margaret Downs, Eliza Ennis, Gavin Epstein, Keith Herrmann, Jason Hou, Kathryn Howe, Abigail Hunter, Blythe Johnston, Brian Kelley, Simin Liu, Madeleine Lowry, Justin Ludwig, Ria Mazumdar, Elena Purcell, Abigail Reeves, Julia Storch, Jack Sullivan, Alina Taveras Shelley, Katja Vassilev, Sarah Watterberg, Stephanie Yang, and Bence Zolyomi.
