Allison Beck, Reporter
@abeckcourant
Every year the National Merit Scholarship Program selects 16,227 students out of the 1,497,368 entrants from around the nation to be semi-finalists for their Scholarship. This year, two of those semi-finalists came from New Canaan High School. Seniors Caroline Callahan and Leigh Charlton have been recognized by the program for their high PSAT scores, ranking in the top 1% of all students in the country.
The National Merit Scholarship Program is a corporation whose goal is to identify and commend academically talented students. and the award is a scholarship worth up to $2500 Scholarships.
Head principal Bill Egan commented on Caroline and Leigh’s success. “It is a huge achievement for our school,” he said. “It’s an amazing honor to either have commenced students or semi-finalists in the school.”
Leigh was surprised by the high praise she was given by her classmates and family for her accomplishment. “I also didn’t realize it was a big deal until my dad posted it on Facebook.”
In fact, the school community made sure to reach out to Caroline and her family for her achievement. “Everyone was coming up to us saying
congratulations and we were so confused,” Caroline said. “My counselor called my house and my mom thought I was going to get expelled or something.”
The girls will take the SAT this year which will determine if they will move forward to be a National Merit Finalist in June.
