Belton ISD National Merit Semifinalists & Commended Scholars

The National Merit Program has recognized two Belton ISD students as semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program for their performance on the Preliminary SAT (PSAT) — Belton High School senior Caleb Bovell and Belton New Tech @Waskow senior Kevin Thomas.

To qualify as a National Merit semifinalist, both students’ high scores on the PSAT placed them in the top 1 percent of more than 1.5 million students who took the test last fall. As the next step in the scholarship competition, Bovell and Thomas will submit essays, recommendations and additional test scores to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Finalists will be announced in the spring.

Congratulations to these hardworking students who have demonstrated many of our Journey of a Graduate competencies, including adaptability, collaboration and critical thinking, to earn this recognition.

The National Merit Program has recognized six Belton ISD students as Commended Scholars for 2023.

The students recognized are: Karmanyaah Malhotra from Belton High School; David Larsen from Lake Belton High School; and Michael Savino, Duncan Lancaster, William Asuncion-Crabb and Kole Petersen from Belton New Tech @Waskow.

Ranked in the top 5 percent in the nation for scores on the PSAT, these Belton ISD students are among about 34,000 selected as Commended Scholars out of 1.5 million students who took the test last fall.

Congratulations to these students who have demonstrated perseverance, adaptability and communication — all competencies from the district’s Journey of a Graduate profile.