National Hispanic Recognition Program scholars recognized
Janelle Arnold and Raven Encino of Young Women’s Leadership Academy, Judge-Anthony Rios and Nikol Garcia Espinoza of Travis Early College High School, Thomas Martinez of St. Philip’s Early College High School and Jose Martinez of Edison High School (not pictured) are this year’s Class of 2019 National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP) Scholars. These Hispanic high school students were invited to apply for academic recognition as part of a program administered directly by the College Board and Scholarship America.
“Being recognized as a National Hispanic Recognition Program scholar made me feel more confident to be able to apply to more prestigious universities out of state,” said Travis ECHS’s Nikol, who was recently accepted to attend the University of Notre Dame. “It made me feel as though I could compete with the other applicants and that I had a better chance of being accepted.”
The College Board’s National Hispanic Recognition Program recognizes only about 5,000 high school seniors of the 250,000 Hispanic students who took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test in the fall semester of their 11th-grade year. NHRP recognizes Hispanic Scholars around the country based on their PSAT/NMSQT test performance and NHRP criteria. While NHRP does not directly include any financial awards or scholarships, colleges may have their own awards based on student status. NHRP, for example, is an entrance path for Boston University’s Presidential Scholarship.
“It was really good to see the other students from the District who received this award, and it felt great to be recognized for my scores on the PSAT,” said YWLA’s Janelle, who was recently accepted to Princeton University. “The fact that I was able to put this on my college applications really helped add prestige to my applications.”
This is an academic honor that can be included on college and scholarship applications and colleges frequently use this recognition program to identify academically exceptional Hispanic/Latino students for various scholarships specific to NHRP recipients.
The College Board identifies students who take the PSAT/NMSQT in October of their junior year, are at least one-quarter Hispanic/Latino, achieve the minimum required PSAT/NMSQT Selection Index score, and earn a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher by the middle of their junior year.