By Aaron Facundo

          In the state of California, there are 4,495 high schools and 330 unified districts. Within the Glendale Unified School District, there are five high schools and one star scholar that stands out like no other.

          Davit Antonyan’s (’19) entire life was full of rigorous academic courses and long nights of studying. Now, he has been recognized as a semifinalist for the PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test) National Merit Scholarship Program. This program rewards people who achieve high scores on the PSAT with a 2,500 dollar scholarship to go towards college.

          Antonyan received a 1490 out of 1520 on his PSAT to achieve his semifinalist position.

          “I’m honestly not surprised that Davit was able to achieve this,” Iffat Alam (’19) said. “He’s a great strategist and this is only the tip of the iceberg for his achievements.”

          To progress in this program, Antonyan’s academic performance will be evaluated by a board of officials.

          “I feel like this achievement brings pride to our district and it goes to show that our schools are good enough,” Antonyan said, “Mainly, I’m happy that I can bring some name recognition to the district and to our high school.”

         Antonyan values the prestige and recognition a lot more than any monetary amount. He feels that money is not everything and that gaining the respect of others is much more meaningful and difficult to achieve.

          “I’m glad that i did something that only one percent of California students can do and that happened here in the halls of 651 Glenwood Road.” Antonyan said.

          Being a semifinalist for this scholarship program is just the tip of the iceberg for his achievements. Antonyan maintains a grade point average above 4.0, scored a 1570 on his SAT, holds positions in several clubs including business club, Red Cross club, NHS, and so much more.

          Antonyan moved to the United States from Armenia when he was only six years old. His parents made a lot of sacrifices in order to improve the life of his family.

          “I wanted to make my parents proud so I decided that academics would give me the best chance to do so and succeed,” Antonyan said.

          The point where he realized that academics could lead him to success was in the fourth grade.

          “My teacher decided to remove a math problem from a test because she thought it was impossible for fourth graders to solve,” Antonyan said, “I gave the problem a shot and my teacher was so proud of me which catalyzed my love for learning.”

          Throughout his years in school, Antonyan’s greatest achievement is starting his company known as “Vis Technologies” alongside three other students that he met in a summer program known as LaunchX.

          Now that he has started his own business, Antonyan wishes to use his background as a journalist in order to obtain his bachelor’s degree in international business.

          With so many great achievements and difficult goals, Antonyan goes through several obstacles.

          “My schedule is loaded, which means I have to prioritize my tasks and miss out on certain things,” Antonyan said, “I do lose a lot of sleep and it’s difficult trying to find a balance between academics, social life and extracurriculars.”

          Antonyan has achieved so much and at such a young age, there is only more to come.