Four Harding students were recently honored by the College Board for academic excellence.

Seniors, Garrett Eakers, Bryant Colin, James Williams and Cade Bross have been recognized out of 16,000 other students in the United States because they have earned some of the highest scores on the PSAT.]

National Merit Semifinalists are Eakers, Williams and Bross. Eakers was recognized as both a National Merit Semifinalist and a National Black Scholar. Bryant Colin was recognized as a National Hispanic Scholar.

National Merit Semifinalists

James Williams

James Williams is one of three that was recognized as a National Merit Semifinalists.

“It’s kind of nice to get some recognition for academic stuff because a lot of the time, it goes to people who are involved in sports and other extracurricular activities,” Williams said.

Being awarded with the National Merit Scholarship is a big advantage for being recruited by colleges.

Williams has been accepted into University of Oklahoma but is also waiting on decisions from 18 other colleges, such as University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He plans on majoring in engineering or economics.

“It opens up a lot of scholarship opportunities and it’s nice to be recognized by not only the school and fellow students but also colleges who try to recruit you,” he said.

Williams has two siblings that attend HCP and since they will be attending college soon, he knows the expense of college and the trouble it could cause his family.

“My family is definitely relieved that I can go to OU and have my education almost paid for because it is a huge burden lifted off of them.”

During high school, Williams participated in baseball, speech and debate, Youth Leadership Exchange and he was also a member of the National Honor Society. Along with that, he was an active volunteer  with his church’s youth group.

Williams said he is very happy for his friends who were awarded as well.

Cade Bross

Cade Bross is another student honored as a National Merit Semifinalist.

“It’s definitely a huge honor because there are three students at Harding and I know a lot of schools that are five times bigger have four, so it makes me pretty proud,” Bross said.

Bross said he did a pre-PSAT team with Harding, which gave him opportunities to study questions that could possibly be on the test.

“I had hoped I would get it the whole time, so it still was kind of a surprise. My family was really happy and they gave me a big hug,” Bross said.

During high school, Bross was on the baseball team and completed all of the art classes at HCP. Outside of school, he plays guitar as a hobby and works.

Bross has been accepted to University of Oklahoma but is waiting for decisions from Brown University and University of Chicago. He is currently undecided on his major.

National Black Scholar

Senior Garrett Eakers was recognized as both a National Merit Semifinalists and a National Black Scholar.

“Once it hit me, it was not quite overwhelming but very overpowering. I was really surprised. It was something I was worrying quite a bit about so once I actually heard it, it was relieving. A ton of weight fell off my shoulders,” Eakers said about finding out he made it into the semifinalists round.

The other program within the National Merit for excelling black students is called the National Achievement Scholarship Program. Over 4,700 students are honored out of the 160,000 that enter the program.

“I found out about the National Achievement Scholarship Program after the National Merit and the threshold for that is generally lower, so I kind of deduced once I got in as a semifinalist, I would be a National Achievement finalist as well so it’s doubly great because if one doesn’t happen, the other one would, so it was a reassurance,” Eakers said.

Eakers was accepted into OU and is waiting on decisions from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, Vanderbilt University and Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He plans on majoring in microbiology.

During high school, Eakers was the secretary of the National Honor Society, along with participating in speech and debate and tennis. He played basketball for two years and also was a member of STEM club for one year.

Along with Bross, Eakers practiced with the pre-PSAT team at Harding to be prepared for the test.

National Hispanic Scholar

Bryant Colin has been recognized by the National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP) for excellence in academic achievements. Out of 250,000 Hispanic/Latino students that took the PSAT, 5,000 of the highest-scoring students go into the semifinalists round to win the award.

Colin was selected out of the few.

“I’m pretty proud to be able to represent my Hispanic side, because not usually Hispanics get recognized for something like this. I’m really proud to represent my heritage,” Colin said.

Colin was given an official certificate of recognition.

“There’s a bunch of scholarship opportunities with this award so that’s why I decided to go through with it,” Colin said.

Colin was anxious about learning whether or not he made the cut off.

“I was pretty surprised because I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. I showed it to my parents and they couldn’t believe it. They were proud of me.”