COMAL COUNTY, Texas – Noah Bliss and Mason Mock were honored as National Merit Scholars by Comal ISD.
Bliss will graduate from Davenport High School and plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin to study Aerospace Engineering. Mock will graduate from Smithson Valley High School and plans to attend Texas A&M University to study Electrical Engineering.
National Merit Scholars are selected from a pool of National Merit finalists who take the PSAT/NMSQT test in 11th grade.
The initial pool is around 1.5 million students. From that number, 50,000 students with the highest score will qualify for National Merit Scholarship Program recognition.
The students who qualify are given the title “Commended students” or “Semifinalists.”
More than 15,000 Semifinalists are notified that they have advanced to the Finalist portion.
Merit scholarship winners are chosen from the pool of finalists based on abilities, skills and accomplishments.
The National Merit Scholarship Program evaluates finalists on several things, including information on the student’s activities and leadership, their essays and written recommendations from the high school, among other things.