Nov. 30, 2020 - The Comal Independent School District is proud to announce that 55 students in this year’s senior class earned honors from the College Board’s National Recognition Programs. These individuals are among the nation’s top academic performers and were recognized virtually during the district’s regularly scheduled board meeting Thursday, Nov. 19.
Among the 55 are four National Merit Semifinalists; 15 Commended Scholars; one recognized in the National African American Program; 16 in the National Hispanic Program; 45 in the National Rural and Small Town Program and one in the National Hispanic and Indigenous Program.
Approximately 1.7 million high school juniors enter the National Merit Scholarship Program every year by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Only 50,00 students qualify for recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program, and only 16,000, or the top 1 percent, are named as Semifinalists.
Among those Semifinalists are Emma Kirchhoff and Thomas Conner from Smithson Valley High School, Madison Crowder from Canyon Lake High School and Philip Templeman from Canyon High School. These four now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million that will be offered in the spring.
Those students who earn the National Merit Commended Scholar title are among the top 3-4 percent of academic scholars in the nation. This year’s commended students for Comal ISD include Jackson Frazier, Emily Schmidt, Chase Thetford, Jaden Wiser and Jillian Wold from CHS; and Wesley Barton, Joshua Harshbarger, Tomas Hinojosa, Reagan Hoffmann, Aidan Hubert, Kaleigh Kirkpatrick, Thomas Moody II, Naomi Ortiz, Rocco Perciavalle III and Jaicob Rodriguez from SVHS.
In addition to National Merit honors, the College Board National Recognition Programs identify students from underrepresented groups who have excelled on the PSAT/NMSQT. These programs include the African American Recognition, Hispanic Recognition, Indigenous Recognition and Rural and Small Town Recognition.
Here is a list of Comal ISD students by campus who received recognitions.
Canyon High School
- Brock Bailey, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Jackson Frazier, Commended Scholar, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Kyle Jernigan, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Taylor Morgan, Indigenous Recognition Program
- Martin Ortega, Hispanic Recognition Program
- Tyler Parker, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Brianna Rivera, Hispanic Recognition Program
- Ava Robillard, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Emily Schmidt, Commended Scholar, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Philip Templeman, National Merit Semifinalist
- Chase Thetford, Commended Scholar, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Emma Villagran, Hispanic Recognition Program
- Jaden Wiser, Commended Scholar, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Jillian Wold, Commended Scholar, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
Canyon Lake High School
- Madison Crowder, National Merit Semifinalist, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
Memorial Early College High School with Alamo Colleges
- Maya Langendorf, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Nolan Martel, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Riley Muennink, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Logan Plumlee, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Bradley Ross, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
Smithson Valley High School
- Vishali Baker, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Bradley Barker, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Wesley Barton, Commended Scholar, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Iris Bradbury, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Thomas Conner, National Merit Semifinalist, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Jenna Dixon, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Cooper Douglass, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Brayden Drury, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Joshua Fiorentino, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Kayla Friesenhahn, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Jazmine Greene, Hispanic Recognition Program, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Joshua Harshbarger, Commended Scholar, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Caitlyn Hermesch, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Tomas Hinojosa, Commended Scholar, Hispanic Recognition Program, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Reagan Hoffmann, Commended Scholar, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Aidan Hubert, Commended Scholar, Hispanic Recognition Program, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Emma Kirchhoff, National Merit Semifinalist, Hispanic Recognition Program, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Kaleigh Kirkpatrick, Commended Scholar, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Lauren Leyendecker, Hispanic Recognition Program
- Addison Lueck, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- DeWitt Maxwell, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Maya McBrayer, Hispanic Recognition Program, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Dominic Meza, Hispanic Recognition Program
- Thomas Moody II, Commended Scholar, Hispanic Recognition Program
- Nicole Morin, Hispanic Recognition Program
- Jordan Nielsen, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Naomi Ortiz, Commended Scholar, Hispanic Recognition Program, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Lindsay Pattison, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Rocco Perciavalle III, Commended Scholar, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Bianca Perez, Hispanic Recognition Program, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Jaicob Rodriguez, Commended Scholar, Hispanic Recognition Program, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Conner Stevenson, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Marshall Tidwell, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
- Abigail Uduji, African American Recognition Program
- Joseph Van Pelt, Hispanic Recognition Program, Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
Congratulations!
-Fourteen senior students from Canyon High School received academic honors from the National College Board this year.
-Canyon Lake High School Senior Madison Crowder is one of Comal ISD’s four students this year to become a National Merit Semifinalist.
-Five students from Memorial Early College High School received academic honors from the National College Board this year.
-Thirty-five students from Smithson Valley High School received academic honors from the National College Board this year.