TEXARKANA, Texas - Senior twin sisters at Texas High School Jenna and Kate Woodard were recently named finalists in the 66th annual National Merit Scholarship Program by officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
They will now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $30 million that will be offered in the spring.
"I'm just so proud of them," Their mother Joanna Woodard said. "And as a mom of twins, I'm glad it's both of them. They are very hard workers. Very dedicated and always wanting to do their best. And I'm so glad they've been so motivated."
She said Jenna and Kate have helped each other along the way, contributing greatly to their academic success.
"I think they've pushed each other, and there's a bit of competitiveness there," she said. "But they've also helped each other if there's one who doesn't understand something. It's just like you've always got your best friend right there. It's pretty cool."
To become a finalist, the semifinalists were required to have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the high school principal and earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test (PSAT/NMSQT).
Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments and potential for success in college studies.
"We had a lot of hard classes to prepare us for that kind of thing," Jenna Woodard said. "The PSAT was how we qualified for this, so there was a lot of review and making sure we knew everything that was going to be on the test. We also had to do an application, so we took a lot of time on that, wrote a couple essays for it and made sure everything was in order. It was a lot of preparation around the testing and the application, not necessarily just for the award itself."
According to a news release, both Jenna and Kate are four-year members of the Texas High School Marching Band and Drumline. Jenna was named a Texas Music Educators Association All-Region Band member during the past three years, while Kate was chosen for the same honor during her junior and senior year.
Jenna qualified for State Solo and Ensemble for the past four years and Kate qualified for State Solo and Ensemble during her freshman and senior year. As members of TigerVision, Kate has served as an editor and executive producer of the daily live shows. Both Jenna and Kate were team members on the short film, "Gifted," which received Best Art Direction and Set Design awards during the Student Television Network National Awards program.
They're also members of the National Honor Society, Tri-M Music Honor Society and many more groups/clubs.
"Everything that we're in is a lot of teamwork," Kate said. "We're good individually in classes and stuff through just the rigor of our courses. But being in those clubs, like band especially, it's a lot of teamwork. And you have to know your part so the whole team sounds good. And that teamwork takes a lot of communication. That's been a real benefit of all the things we do here at Texas High."
Kate said she doesn't have anything to compare it to, but her and Jenna's closeness has provided much-needed support from both sides throughout their school careers.
"We don't know any different," she said. "We don't have any other siblings, so it's always just been me and her. I don't really have anything to compare it to, but it's been fun. She's my best friend. We're the same age, but we also like a lot of the same things. Whenever I have a problem in math, she'll help me. And whenever she has a problem in math, she'll come ask me."
They don't quite know where they'll be attending college or if they'll go to the same one yet, but either way, Jenna said they'll be ready for what's thrown their way.
"I'd love to go to school with her, but I also think we're ready to go off on our own," she said. "And we'll be fine without each other. It's really just however it happens."