Congratulations to two Prestonwood Christian Academy seniors who placed in the 2021 National Merit competition. Matthew Bower and Benjamin Oommen were named National Merit Commended Scholars based on their results of the fall 2020 PSAT. In addition, Kimberly Beeman, Abram De Armas (Class of 2023) and Monica Spooner have been named College Board National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholars. Maia Brown, Sydney Brown, Rihana Nesru and Jackson Shuler are College Board National African American Recognition Program Scholars.

About 34,000 Commended students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. They placed among the top 50,000 scores of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2022 competition by taking the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

The College Board, which administers the PSAT and SAT among its activities, recognizes academic excellence through its National Recognition Programs. Students selected for this prestigious honor can cite it on their college and scholarship applications. In turn, colleges use the listing of this honor as a way of identifying students from underrepresented groups—i.e., ethnic minorities and/or those who attend school in rural areas or small towns—who have excelled on their PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10, or AP Exams and in their classwork.

"We are incredibly proud of these bright students who excel academically and are involved as leaders on our campus,” said Dr. Mike Goddard, Superintendent of PCA School System. “Each of these faith-filled Lions is able to articulate their biblical worldview in a culture of opposing ideas. These nine students represent Prestonwood Christian Academy well, and they showcase how a student can shine at a liberal arts school where faith is intentionally integrated with learning resulting in a distinctive environment and community."

Prestonwood Christian Academy School System is a ministry of Prestonwood Baptist Church and made up of six schools serving more than 2,000 students across the Dallas Metroplex and virtually throughout the world. Schools include PCA Plano (Pre-K3 through 12th Grade), PCA North in Prosper (Pre-K3 through 11th Grade), PCA Hybrid (Kindergarten through 2nd and 5th through 6th) and PCA Online. St. Timothy Christian Academy in Plano serves students with learning differences and The King’s Academy provides a Christian education to students in South Dallas. The PCA School System has been recognized as having one of the strongest Christian education programs in the country providing intentional biblical worldview training and integration. PCA places great value on the growth of students’ spiritual health in addition to their scholastic endeavors and co-curricular activities. Tantamount to its Spiritual Development plan is PCA’s rigorous Liberal Arts academic program. From the first graduating class in 2002 through the class of 2021, graduates have been offered more than $154.6 million in scholarships for academics, arts and athletics from universities and other institutions of higher learning. All PCA schools are enrolling.