Senior Lucy Benavides recently qualified for the National Hispanic Recognition Award, a College Board-offered certification for Hispanic students with outstanding academic credentials.
This year, 72,000 students received a National Recognition through one of BigFuture’s National Recognition Programs, which also provide honors to students from small towns or rural areas, Black students and Native American students. CollegeBoard will add a new category for first-generation students this year. For the Hispanic Recognition Award, only about 5,000 of the 250,000 Hispanic students who take the PSAT/NMSQT each year are eligible. Students who are honored by any recognition program must have a GPA above 3.5, a record of at least two AP classes by the end of junior year, and a high score on the PSAT/NMSQT.
The award indicates consistent academic achievement, and many colleges offer scholarships for recipients. For example, those who have obtained the award are eligible to apply for Boston University’s presidential scholarship, or full tuition at the University of Alabama.
Benavides qualified for the award by scoring in the top 10% of test takers on the PSAT/NMSQT within the program by state. Every resource she used to study for the test was free or provided by the school. In particular, she studied using the SAT program on Khan Academy, a free online resource that offers SAT preparation for individual subjects and subject areas, tailoring a student’s practice sets to their assessed strengths and weaknesses.
“I’ve always been pretty good at taking standardized tests,” Benavides said. “I also did some cram studying in the week leading up on Khan Academy, because I didn’t have a PSAT book or anything like that, but Khan Academy has a lot of really good resources.”
Benavides is continuing her rigorous academic schedule in the fall semester of her senior year, taking AP English, AP Art, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus AB and Advanced Stagecraft. She also races for the mountain biking team, and enjoys reading, video games, and art in her free time. Next year, she plans to attend college in the Midwest, majoring in a STEM field, likely engineering or computer science.
“We did a mini-project in Physics last year on how radioactivity works and I just think nuclear engineering is cool,” Benavides said. “But also I really like computer science and I use some of that on the side.”
Anyone who identifies as Hispanic can apply for the recognition through the College Board. The process took Benavides about five minutes.
“After I took the PSAT… [the College Board] sent me a notification on AP Classroom,” Benavides said. “I think they said I qualified for the award, and that I should fill out a short survey with my name, my mom’s name, who my counselor is, what I identify as…and it was just really short and quick.”
Benavides’ Hispanic culture is present in her home – both of her parents speak Spanish. Benavides expanded on her heritage, emphasizing the difference between traditional Hispanic culture and Mexican-American culture.
“A very important part of American culture is Hispanic-American culture, or Mexican-American culture, because it is kind of its own thing, separate from Mexican culture in Mexico,” Benavides said. “I’d say [my family is] very Americanized but we think of family a certain way, we’re really connected, and eat certain foods.”
Benavides spoke about her father, who is half Mexican, and his connection to his parents and his culture.
“[My dad is] very proud of being Mexican because he feels his work ethic is connected to that and that’s where he got it, his Mexican side,” Benavides said. “And his white side, both sides, just have a very strong work ethic … I guess that’s how it’s connected, how I participate in my culture.”
The school-offered PSAT/NMSQT was administered on October 18th to all juniors this year. For students who aim to receive outstanding scores on standardized tests, Benavides offered advice: Work hard.
“Just work. Don’t work yourself to the bone, but work hard and set out time to do things specifically … Really make sure you know how you’re using your time and use your time carefully,” Benavides said. “Good time management is a huge part of how I stay sane.”