McKinney, Texas – Each year, academically talented 7th graders from across the country are selected to participate in the Duke Talent Identification Program (TIP), the largest program in the country that focuses on identifying academic strengths and developing the abilities of talented middle school students.

Through participation in the Duke TIP program, these students receive the opportunity to experience above-grade-level testing by taking the ACT or SAT college entrance exam.

Of the 65,527 advanced students who qualified for the program nationwide, 24,488 met the stringent exam score criteria to earn state level recognition for their performance, and 2,545 received national recognition for meeting even higher scoring criteria on the college entrance exams.

Among them, were 77 McKinney ISD 7th graders earning state recognition and four who earned national recognition, the title of Grand Scholar and an invitation to Duke TIP’s Grand Recognition Ceremony.

2016 Duke TIP State Recognition Recipients

Cockrill Middle School: Madison Benedetti, McKinley Bryson, Caliway Buchanan, Cian Collins, Cael Gorman, Braden Lanciani, Tyler Machost, Joshua Martin, Cedric McEnroe, Avery McNeil, Veer Mistry, Johnathan Newsom, Eva Remus, Andrew Simmons, Drew Wilkinson, Lailah Williams, Constance Wilson

Dowell Middle School: Collin Drake, Vivienne Garner, Kevin Giller, Amy Gilmore, Emily Heisner, Brennan Herring, Jackson Heuvel, Joseph Hoyle, Aidan Hudson, Rylee Jones, Mackenzie Jones, Kaile Luke, Reiley McCormick-Keck, Kaylee Miller, Jordyn Nevelle, Michael Patton, Janet Pham, Dean Plummer, Aiden Stickney, Landen Taylor, Katherine Tschirhart, Aiden Varnell, Cailey Varnell, Lee Zulueta

Evans Middle School: Miranda Andrews, Sarah Chun, Andrew Davis, Morgan George, Rees Gerhard, Kenneth Hetzel, Ian Hook-Adams, Annabel Kilroy, Adriene Law, Benjamin Merrell, Luke Millis, Jhoan Nelson, Kayla Nguyen, Michael Nori, Anna Payne, Brandon Roberts, Benjamin Scheurer, Nicolaas Wooters, Alexa Wright

Faubion Middle School: Kael Adair, Munraj Bal, Gemma Bryant, Jacob Clanton, Savannah Gagarin, Ryan Henry, Joshua Josey, Thorsen Kristufek, Margaret Ripperger, Brooklyn Ross, Connor Russell, Andrew Safstrom, Katherine Scudder, Benjamin Yu

Scott Johnson Middle School: Ashleigh Bane, Aaron Robinson, Morgan Schleppi

2016 Duke TIP Grand Scholars — National Recognition Recipients

Cockrill Middle School: Nicholas Benjamin, Keelin Gaughan

Dowell Middle School: Georgina Chen

Faubion Middle School: Carson Wedding

“As seventh graders, these students have achieved scores on the ACT or SAT rivaling those of half of all college-bound seniors who took the tests,” said Dr. Martha Putallaz, executive director of Duke TIP and professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. “We are extremely proud of our ceremonies honorees, and we appreciate the opportunity to celebrate their achievement and encourage them in their academic potential.”

For more information about the Duke TIP program, visit their website by clicking here.

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