Three eighth-grade students have been chosen to receive the most prestigious merit scholarships awarded by TMI – The Episcopal School of Texas.

LeSean Brown of Spring Branch Middle School and Sofia Miranda-Fred of Keystone School are recipients of the Margaret M. and Albert B. Alkek Scholarships, two full-tuition, four-year merit scholarships that recognize students with excellent academic records and one or more outstanding extracurricular achievements.

At Spring Branch, Brown is in the Gifted and Talented program, is president of the National Junior Honor Society, has been on the A Honor Roll since sixth grade and qualified for the Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP), which identifies academically talented students through above-level test performance. He is captain of his school’s eighth-grade basketball team, is a member of the school band and has volunteered as a peer tutor, at St. Jude’s Children’s Ranch and with the Alamo City All Stars youth basketball organization.

At Keystone, Miranda-Fred has made the All-A Honor Roll since sixth grade, earned state recognition in Duke TIP and is a member of the National Society for the Gifted and Talented. For the past two summers, she has been a participant in the Summer Institute for the Gifted and Talented. She is captain of her school’s eighth-grade volleyball team, has participated in math competitions, plays the piano, wrote a winning poem for the Young Pegasus Poetry Competition and volunteers at Daily Bread Ministries.

Lauren Devlin, an eighth-grader at St. George Episcopal School, is the recipient of the Tom C. Frost Merit Award, for a student with an impressive academic and extracurricular record who embodies the mission of TMI. She received state recognition in Duke TIP, earned state finalist status in the Private School Interscholastic Association (PSIA) awards, as well as school achievement awards in many subjects. She is captain of her school’s varsity volleyball team, has acted in school plays and volunteered with Adopt a Needy Family, Any Baby Can and the Ronald McDonald House.

The recipients of the Alkek and Frost scholarships will be honored during a daily chapel service later this month. All three students will be ninth-graders at TMI with the start of the 2012-2013 school year.