Six seniors from The Episcopal School of Dallas have been named National Merit Scholarship Finalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Karina Boyea, Joseph Cheniae, Alexander Eggers, Christina Radford, Joseph Rooney, and Victoria Siu were recognized in a special chapel service on March 3 in front of their peers and parents; each student will remain in the competition to be considered for a National Merit Scholarship.

Approximately 15,000 students nation-wide advanced to Finalist standing; about 8,000 of them have the opportunity to receive scholarship offers now through June.

In addition to the six National Merit Scholarship Finalists, ESD had 12 additional Upper School students recognized as Commended Scholars by the National Merit Scholarship Program for their high academic achievements on the PSAT. Those students include: Johnathan Barr, Ignacio Bustamante, Paul Cahoon, Tate Curington, Kendall DeSantis, Jason Goolsby, Winston Guillory, Rachel Hersh, Emma Jenevein, Charlotte Neuhoff, Henry Thornton, and Sophie Wilson.

Although they will not continue in the 2015 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2015 competition by taking the 2013 Preliminary PSAT/ National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

“The young men and women being named Commended Students have demonstrated the outstanding potential for academic success,” commented a spokesperson for NMSC. “The students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success.”

Caleb Williams ’15 was honored as one of 3,100 “Outstanding Participants” in the National Achievement Scholarship Program. Williams scored in the top 3 percent of more than 160,000 black students who requested consideration in the 2014 National Achievement Program based on their PSAT scores.