Bellaire High School Senior Named As Semifinalist In National Achievement Scholarship Program

Bellaire High School senior Ibeturu Alozie is one of nine HISD students who have been named as semifinalists in the 2011 National Achievement Scholarship Program.

The students are among more than 1,600 African-American high school seniors nationwide who were announced as semifinalists in the 47th annual National Achievement Scholarship Program.

The students have an opportunity to continue in the competition for approximately 800 Achievement Scholarship awards, worth more than $2.5 million, to be offered next spring.

“These students and their families should be commended for their hard work and dedication to academic excellence,” said HISD superintendent Terry B. Grier. “I am extremely proud of all the semifinalists and wish them luck in the next phase of the competition.”

More than 160,000 high school juniors from all over the United States requested consideration in the 2011 National Achievement Scholarship Program when they took their 2009 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Semifinalists are designated within geographic regions and are the highest-scoring program entrants in the states that make up reach region.

To be considered for a National Achievement Scholarship, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. About 80 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and more than half of the finalists will win an Achievement Scholarship award next year.

Three of the National Achievement Scholarship semifinalists are from HISD’s DeBakey High School for Health Professions: Jael Babb, Folasade Oba and Alyssa Savoie. Carnegie Vanguard High School has two finalists: Dicarlos Davis and Elisabeth Massey. Lamar High School also has two finalists: Marcus Mitchell and Michael Tekie. Luke Jones from Challenge Early College High School is a finalist as well.

The National Achievement Scholarship Program is a privately financed academic competition that began in 1964 to recognize academically promising black students throughout the nation and to provide scholarships to a substantial number of the most outstanding program participants. To date, more than 30,000 young men and women have received Achievement Scholarship awards worth more than $96 million.