MPHS College Board National Award winners

1st row (L to R): Gopi Amin, Yahaira Pina, Jose Gonzalez, Amir Martinez

2nd row (L to R): Angelina Hernandez, Abigail Gutierrez, Stephanie Hernandez, Jose Escobar, Nathaniel Cates

3rd row (L to R): Kiara Rundles, Nicholas Cates, Addison Heeren, Clinton Debord, Diego Ugalde

4th row (L to R): Sophie Greco, Orion Senence, Tanner Marshall, Luke Thurman, Samuel Chappell

Contact: Kelly Cowan

Mount Pleasant High School celebrates students awarded academic honors from College Board National Recognition Programs.

Awards recognize high-performing students and help them stand out to colleges.

[Mount Pleasant, Texas] – Mount Pleasant High School students earned academic honors from the College Board National Recognition Programs. These programs celebrate students’ hard work in high school and showcase their strong academic performance. The educational benefits for rural areas, Black, Indigenous, and Latino students are an opportunity for students to share their solid academic achievements with colleges and scholarship programs seeking to recruit diverse talent.

At MPHS, nineteen students received at least one academic honor. National Rural and Small Town Award recipients included Gopi Amin, Nathaniel Cates, Nicholas Cates, Samuel Chappell, Clinton Debord, Jose Gonzalez, Sophie Greco, Abigail Gutierrez, Addison Heeren, Angelina Hernandez, Tanner Marshall, Yahaira Pina, Kiara Rundles, Orion Senence, and Luke Thurman. National Hispanic Recognition Award winners were Jose Escobar, Gonzalez, Greco, A. Hernandez, Stephanie Hernandez, Amir Martinez, Pina, and Diego Ugalde. Rundles also received the National African American Recognition Award.

“We’re thrilled to celebrate our students and recognize them for the great work they’ve been doing. We’re proud of their academic performance in the classroom and on College Board assessments like the PSAT/NMSQT® and AP® exams,” said MPHS Principal Craig Bailey. “There’s so much that makes our students unique, and receiving this honor reinforces this as an asset for their future.”

The criteria for eligible students include:

• GPA of 3.5 or higher.
• PSAT/NMSQT or PSAT 10 assessment scores that are within the top 10% of assessment takers in each state for each award program or earned a score of three or higher on two or more AP Exams in 9th and 10th grade.
• Attend school in a rural area or small town, or identify as African American/Black, Hispanic American/Latino, or Indigenous/Native.

“It’s becoming increasingly hard for students to be ‘seen’ during the college recruitment. We’re exceptionally proud of the National Recognition Programs for celebrating students who are sometimes overlooked but have shown their outstanding academic abilities,” said Tarlin Ray, senior vice president of BigFuture® at College Board. “This is a benefit not only for students but also for colleges and universities committed to recruiting diverse and talented students.”