Mission, Texas- The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced the names of about 800 outstanding Black American high school seniors who have won Achievement Scholarship awards through the National Achievement Scholarship Program. These awards are financed by grants from 30 corporate organizations and professional associations, and by National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Darius Davis from Veterans Memorial High School is the only student in the Rio Grande Valley to earn this honor this year.
The National Achievement Scholarship Program is a privately financed academic competition established in 1964 specifically to honor scholastically talented Black American youth and to provide scholarships to a substantial number of the most outstanding participants in each annual competition. The program is conducted by National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance.
About 150,000 students entered the 2015 National Achievement Scholarship Program by requesting consideration in the competition when they took the 2013 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) as high school juniors. In September 2014, about 1,600 of the highest scorers were named semifinalists on a regional representation basis. To continue in the competition, semifinalists had to fulfill requirements for finalist standing, which included having a record of consistently high academic performance; being endorsed and recommended by an official from their high school; earning SAT scores that confirmed the PSAT/NMSQT performance; and writing an essay. From the semifinalist pool, some 1,300 advanced to the finalist level, and the 800 National Achievement Scholarship winners were selected from this group of outstanding students. Achievement Scholar awardees are the finalist candidates judged to have the strongest record of accomplishments and greatest potential for academic success in college.
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