ATHENS — Athens High School senior Rachael Rosales has been named a National Merit scholar, winning one of the nation’s most prestigious academic awards.

Rosales, the daughter of Greg and Ann Rosales, will receive one of the 8,200 Merit Scholarships awarded nationwide, taking home her share of the $35 million total scholarship distribution.

Rosales, 18, the daughter of Greg and Ann Rosales of Athens, will be in the honors program and the early medical school acceptance program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She will major in biology with an emphasis in molecular biology. She also plans to pursue a second major in Spanish.

Of the 150 who applied nationwide to attend UAB medical school, only 28 were interviewed and just 10 — including Rosales — were accepted, Athens High School Superintendent Dr. Orman Bridges Jr. told members of the Athens Board of Education during their regular monthly meeting Thursday.

He said she has also been named a National Hispanic Scholar and has won a UAB Presidential Scholarship and a Provost Award.

School board members congratulated Rosales, who attended the meeting, for her accomplishments.

“I feel incredibly honored to be named a National Merit Scholar and National Hispanic Scholar; I worked hard to achieve this,” Rosales said Saturday.

Athens High School Principal Chris Bolen said Rosales has been an outstanding student in many respects.

“If you look at her tenure here at Athens High, she is a well-rounded student, very gifted academically but also gifted in other areas. She is in a lot of clubs and organizations, she has done extensive community service, and that combination will do her well in whatever future endeavors she chooses. It is hard to put into words and explanation all that she has accomplished.”

Along with erudition, Rosales has been a member of the National Honor Society, Spanish Club, Spanish Honor Society, Together Renewing And Improving Limestone County, publications staff, Student Council Association, and the tennis, math and Scholars’ Bowl teams.

Rosales parents knew she was very intelligent as a toddler.

"As she grew, her work ethic, desire to learn, good attitude and love for her piano have helped her to develop her skills and talents," her father said. " As you can imagine, we are very proud of Rachael and glad to see her happily pursuing her dreams."

More than 1.5 million juniors in more than 21,000 high schools entered the 2009 National Merit Program when they took the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

In order to become a finalist in the 54th Annual National Merit Scholarship Program, Rosales had to have an outstanding academic record, get an endorsement from the high school principal and earn Scholastic Aptitude Test scores that confirm earlier performance on the qualifying test.