Friendswood ISD High School celebrated students who made it to the National Merit Semi-finals: Antonio Cabrera, Edward Fudge, Rylan Lynch, Aldrich Nguyen, and James Saul. Across the country, only 16,000 students make it to the semi final round of the scholarship competition and to qualify, students must score in the top 1% of their state for the PSAT exam their junior year! These winners will continue in the process, and the National Merit Scholarship awards each finalist with $2,500 to use towards furthering their education.
One of the semifinalists, James Saul, is part of Friendswood High School’s “incubator program” that teaches students real life experiences in the process of being an entrepreneur. James shares that students part of this program “get to start their own business, come up with a plan, do all the planning” which eventually leads into a “shark tank type environment where you actually get to pitch your idea in front of investors.” Starting from one small idea, students then spend time and work on planning everything for the business, from planning their market sizing to their revenue percentages! Students get to really experience the entrepreneurial process and gather all the tools to be a successful business owner. Congrats the the semi-finalists!
Blog by: Michelle Martinez, Intern, UT Austin
Sources: Friendswood ISD Facebook & Friendswood ISD Website