Date:  November 14, 2000
Contact: Irene Cromer
(703) 791-8720

 Two Prince William County students, one who attends Gar-Field High School and one who is a student at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a Governor’s school in Fairfax County, have been named as scholars in the 2000 National Hispanic Scholar Recognition Program (NHSRP), administered by the College Board.

 Olivia Toro, daughter of Andres and Mioh Toro of Dale City, attends Gar-Field High School; and Alex Garay, son of Carlos and Ada Garay of Woodbridge, is a student at Thomas Jefferson.  Crystal Ramos, daughter of Erick Ramos of Bristow and a student at Stonewall Jackson High School, received honorable mention.

 The NHSRP identifies academically outstanding Hispanic students and furnishes their names to colleges and universities to encourage recruitment and financial support.  To be considered in the program, students must be of Hispanic descent, with at least one parent Hispanic.  Students must take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) as high school juniors.

 More than 175,000 Hispanic students took the PSAT/NMSQT and requested consideration for the 2000-2001 program.  Of these, the 4,000 highest scoring students were 
named semifinalists.  The 3,000 students that received Scholar and Honorable Mention designation were chosen from among the 4,000, based on the students’ PSAT/NMSQT scores and their grade point averages.