October marks a time when students are happy about the fall weather and ready for Halloween, but every year seniors participate in the National Merit Scholarship Program. The students eagerly wait a year to know what the outcome of the test is.

Four students have recently been named National Merit Commended Scholars. These include Josh Whitehorn, Selwin George, Katherine Doan and Matthew Crawford. Each senior used a different way to prepare for the test.

“To prepare for the test, I did a six weeks study program called Kaplan,” Whitehorn said. “So basically I sacrificed every weekend leading up to the test by studying.”

One senior on the other hand, focused more on his school subjects in hopes of it helping with the test.

“I didn’t really do anything to prepare for the test,” Crawford said. “I just [tried] hard in classes to retain as much information as possible, so I can use it on these standardized tests.”

Crawford was also awarded the National Hispanic Scholarship along with the National Merit Commended Scholarship.

“I was happy to get these awards and represent our high school, our state and our nation,” Crawford said. “ And I’m really happy that the others where there with me to get the commended award.”

George is using the award as a way to keep his spirits lifted as he continues his educational goals.

“Even though I try not to let my test scores define me, [every] little push, [and every] little pat on the back is something that helps push me forward,” George said. “There are lots of times when the frustration can build up and these little moments can help.”

George is also thankful for the monetary benefits of this prestigious award.

“I’m not from a particular affluent family, so the money side of education is definitely a real problem for me,” George said. “But I’m going to try to do my best with need based and merit based scholarships.”

While George is happy about the award, one student wished she could have done better. This is because each senior is a Commended Scholar, meaning that they can not participate in Presidential Scholarship award.

“[I thought] I didn’t do good enough to be an actually semi-finalist,” Doan said. “It was kind of depressing.”

Even though Doan was disappointed, she looks forward towards her college plans.

“I’m probably going to go to Abilene Christian,” Doan said. “[I want to] major in systems and information and computer science.”

After the long anticipation, each senior is excited about the future, but one feels that the test did not change him.

“I’m planning to be involved in teacher education,” George said. “[But] the truth of it is that I feel about the same before and after the process.”