Seven HISD Students Named as U.S. Presidential Scholar Candidates

Seniors from Bellaire, Westside, and The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts make the cut

February 24, 2012

Seven HISD seniors have been selected as U.S. Presidential Scholar candidates, one of the nation's highest honors for high school students. The seven are among 3,300 candidates from the across the nation who must now submit essays, self-assessments, secondary school reports, and transcripts in order to advance to semi-finalist status.

Six students — Alexandra Gibner, Weiting Ji, Daniel A. Yun, Amy W. Jiang, and Vincent P. Su from Bellaire High School, and Lenzi C. Daniel from Westside High School — were lauded for academics based on having scored exceptionally well on the SAT or the ACT college entrance exams. Victor Lozano, a student at The High School for Performing and Visual Arts, is a Presidential Scholar in the Arts candidate.

In April, the commission will pick 500 semi-finalists to review, and will select up to 121 academic scholars and up to 20 arts scholars the following month. These graduating seniors will be chosen as U.S. Presidential Scholars.

The U.S. Presidential Scholars Program was established in 1964 by executive order to recognize some of the nation's most distinguished graduating high-school seniors. In 1979, the program was extended to recognize students who demonstrate exceptional talent in the visual, creative, and performing arts.