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

Two students at Stockbridge Valley Central School District 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 academic honors for rural area, Black, Indigenous, and/or Latino students are an opportunity for students to share their strong academic achievements with colleges and scholarship programs that are seeking to recruit diverse talent.

At Stockbridge Valley two seniors received the academic honor.

• Edward DeMenezes: National Rural and Small Town Award (NRSTA)
• Nicholas Smith: National Rural and Small Town Award (NRSTA)

“We’re thrilled to celebrate our students and recognize them for the great work they’ve been doing. We’re proud of their strong academic performance in the classroom and on College Board assessments like the PSAT/NMSQT^®, PSAT™ 10, and AP^® exams,” said School Counselor, Cassandra Gleason. “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 3 or higher on 2 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.

Eligible students are invited to apply on BigFuture https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/ during their sophomore or junior year and are awarded at the start of the next school year in time to share their achievements in high school as they plan for the future.  

Photo left to right: SVCS Seniors, Edward DeMenezes and Nicholas Smith