Fourteen Denton ISD students have been chosen out of 1.6 million total entrants to be semi-finalists or commended scholars in the National Merit Scholarship Program for this year’s graduating class.

The College Board named Declan Ayre of Denton High, Audrey Lee, Matthew Spivey, and Sydney Wall of Guyer High to the distinguished list of National Merit Semi-Finalists. 

The four join a pool of just 16,000 National Merit Semifinalists in the entire country. High school students are selected into the program based on their top scores on the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

The Class of 2023 commended scholars include Sabella Smith of Denton High, Asher Colley, Samantha Donnet, Wesley Geldersma, Mandalyn Greene, Sam Kreutzer, Carson McManus, Brandon Rosengren and Cooper Tarvin of Guyer High, Carlos Febres Costa and Naomi Bonham of Ryan High, and finally Andrew Larsen and Isaac Meza of LaGrone Academy.  

Students recognized as “commended” will not continue in the competition for further National Merit awards, however they place among the top five percent of the students who entered the competition by taking the exam. Merit scholar designees are selected based on their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin or religious preference.

The National Merit Scholarship program was founded in 1955 to identify and honor scholastically talented American youth and to encourage them to develop their abilities to the fullest.