Emily Greene
News Editor
On October 30, a number of students will be commended for their accomplishments in the National Merit competition.
According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), high school students must take the PSAT/NMSQT®. Out of 1.5 million entrants, the 50,000 with the highest Selection Index scores, composed of critical reading, mathematics, and writing subsection scores, have qualified students as either Commended Student or Semifinalists.
Around two-thirds of the 50,000 students receive Letters of Commendation, which recognizes their academic accomplishments. Since their scores are lower than the Semifinalist scores, they do not continue in the competition for the National Merit® Scholarship, but some become candidates for Special Scholarships sponsored by businesses.
Semifinalists make up the remaining third of the pool, and are the highest scoring entrants in each state.
Listed below are the students that qualified for the National Merit Commended:
Felicity Blance, John Sullivan, Andrew Campbell, Madeline Zeiss, Caroline Casavant, Siddharth Desphande, Erin Fessler, Aubreigh Guynn, Hannah Herde, Lauren Himmel, Michael Himmel, Fabian Hough, Megan Joyce, Charles Kelly, Gary Krivo, James McGinniss, Emily Milano, and Elayne Stecher.
The following are the six students recognized on the Semifinalist level:
Alexander Bloedel, William Dannemann, Stephanie Havens, Dylan Hsu, Peter Huff, and Laura McCulloch.
In February, 15,000 of the Semifinalists are notified if they have advanced to the Finalist standing. Winners are chosen based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments. NMSC, evaluates these criteria based on the Finalist’s academic record, the school’s curricula and grading system, two sets of test scores, the school official’s written recommendation, given information on student’s leadership and activities, and finally the Finalist’s own submitted essay. Of these Finalists, only 8,200 will receive Merit Scholarship Awards.
