n April 11, Cypress Falls High School honored their National Merit Scholars by having a ceremony and unveiling their names on the National Merit wall.

National Merit is an academic based scholarship program for kids all around the country. Many juniors all over apply when they take the PSAT, but only the top scores make it. This year, Cypress Falls High School had 10 National Merit scholars including Sidney Mitchell Flores, Allison Funk, Kenneth Martinez, Beatriz Medrano, Michelle Vo, Warren Vu, Ian Whitman, Stephen Whitt, Aaron Xu, and Denise Shaffer.

“This was a goal of mine so I could make my parents proud and to show that what they taught me wasn’t a waste,” Michelle Vo (12) said.

To qualify for National Merit, students, would have needed to take the PSAT their junior year and would need to have at least a 1390 score to be recognized on a national level. Many kids take time and effort in preparing, but sometimes it’s just all natural.

”I kind of just went in and took it, I’m a procrastinator so I study two nights before and then the night before,” Denise Shaffer (12) said.

Apart of National Merit Scholar are the National Hispanic scholars. These young Hispanics included Denise Shaffer and Kenneth Martinez.

“You basically identify as Hispanic for the ethnicity part of National Merit and you scored the highest score out of that group,” Shaffer said.

These kids have made Cypress Falls history for the years to come and their names will forever be remembered as they have been engraved into the National Merit Plaque for the Cypress Falls 2017-2018 Scholar wall.

“This is an honor and great recognition since a lot of people know about it. National Merit also opens up a lot of good scholarships at different schools,” Vo said.