Approximately 52 Pasadena ISD students were recognized by the College Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) with various academic awards during the 2006-2007 school year.

The National Merit program allows high school students to compete academically for scholarships and national recognition by taking the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) during their junior year. The NMSC states that of the 1.3 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest scores qualify for recognition in the program. High-scoring participants from every state may choose two colleges or universities to which they would like to be referred by NMSC.

Tasha Lavergne of Dobie High School was honored as a National Merit Semifinalist. Semifinalists are the highest scoring entrants in each state and represent less than one percent of high school seniors nationwide. Semifinalists have the opportunity to compete for 8,200 scholarships worth more than $33 million.

Jillian Wiggin of Sam Rayburn, Shane Gibson, Brittany Ridgway and Christina Canales of Pasadena Memorial, along with Angela Abouassi and Andrew Ingalls of Dobie received National Merit Commended Scholar awards. Commended students are recognized for their outstanding academic promise and more than two-thirds of the approximately 50,000 high scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT receive Letters of Commendation.

The Advanced Placement Program offers students the opportunity to take college-level courses while still in high school. The College Board offers several scholar awards to students who demonstrate college-level achievement through the AP courses and exams. At the top of the list is Pasadena Memorial’s Raisa Nguyen, who was an National AP Scholar.

Brandon Anderson from Pasadena High, Franziskos Agado of Sam Rayburn and Justin Lai of Dobie were recognized as AP Scholars with Honor. This award is achieved by students who receive an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken and grades of three or higher on four or more AP exams.

Divanny Lamas of Pasadena High School, William Maher, Genevieve Walker and Rebecca Walker of Sam Rayburn, Jean Liew and David Wald of Dobie and Winnie Lung, Monica Nguyen and Raisa Nguyen received the AP Scholar with Distinction award. Students qualify for this award by receiving an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and grades of three or higher on five or more AP exams.

In addition, the College Board also honored Antonio Cantu and Adrian Zambrano of Pasadena High, Maria Martinez from Sam Rayburn and Alex Boehm, Christina Canales and Abraham Segura of Pasadena Memorial as National Hispanic Scholars. Maria Martinez of Sam Rayburn was recognized with the National Hispanic Honorable Mention award.
Dobie High School’s Amanda Krivik was also honored as the National Acheivement Scholarship Program recipient.

Pasadena ISD also boasted 23 AP Scholars. The following students were granted this award for receiving grades of three or higher on three or more AP exams:

Pasadena High School
Joey Charles, Eloy Garza, Omar Martinez, Alexandra Nieto, Noemi Sanchez, Jesus Sandoval

Sam Rayburn High School
Sylvia Garcia, Edgar Gatica, Alison Landolt, Nancy Maza

Dobie High School
Wesley Bennett, Carolina Frias, Estela Gonzalez, Sidney King, Truon Luu, Wayne Maxwell, Tram Nguyen, Christine Tran

Pasadena Memorial High School
Kathleen Bryant, Jacob Miley, Amanda Neely, Randall Ross, Abraham Segura