Alamogordo Public Schools has three National Merit Scholar Semifinalists

ALAMOGORDO – Alamogordo High School has three National Merit Scholar Semifinalists.

Melanie Jun, Charles “Trey” Wisecup and Brian Colon-Ortiz are three of about 50,000 students nationwide who have qualified to be National Merit Semifinalists.

“I hope this influences younger students to strive to be better,” Jun said.

They were honored at the Alamogordo Public Schools Board meeting Wednesday night.

Jun has applied to the University of New Mexico, Northwestern University and Rice University.

Wisecup has applied to New Mexico Tech University, New Mexico State University and Western New Mexico State University.

Jun and Wisecup were in attendance but Colon-Ortiz was unavailable for the APS meeting.

Every year, about 1.6 million high school students enter the National Merit Scholarship Program. Of that 1.6 million, only 50,000 qualify to be semifinalists.

“These students then have the opportunity to apply for the chance to become a finalist, which is looked at as a huge honor, and many schools offer full scholarships for college undergraduate study,” said Shawna Denney of the Alamogordo High School College Prep Academy.

To qualify for the National Merit Scholarship, a student must take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) and complete other entry requirements.

For more information go online at nationalmerit.org.

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