Eight Mount Pleasant High School students received 13 academic awards from the College Board’s National Recognition Programs. The academic awards for rural, first-generation, Black, Indigenous and/or Latino students are an opportunity for students to share their academic excellence with colleges and scholarship programs seeking to recruit diverse talent.

Students who received the national First Generation award include Natalia Aspeitia, Valerie Cassio, Selena Clark, Diya Desai, Jose Gonzalez, Amir Martinez, Yahaira Pina and Hayden Tennison. Aspeitia, Cassio and Clark also received the national Hispanic award, while Aspeitia and Desai also received the national Rural and Small Town Student award.

Eligible students will be invited to apply in their second or third year of study and will receive the award at the beginning of the next academic year. Students will receive their awards in time to include them in their college and scholarship applications. Criteria for eligible students include:

• Grade point average of 3.5 or higher.

• Excellent PSAT/NMSQT exam scores or scores of 3 or higher on 2 or more AP exams in 9th and 10th grade.

• They attend a school in a rural or small town, are first generation, or identify as African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, or Indigenous/Native.