September 22, 2008
Local National Merit
Semi-Finalists Announced
Officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) recently announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 54th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, and four local students also made that list.
Local Semifinalists Include:
Lindbergh High School: Brandt M. Wong
Home School, Renton: Jesse L. Baggenstos, Andrew R. Bell
Kentlake High School: Joseph C. Kern
Kentridge High School: Carly L. Schnoebelen
These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 National Merit® Scholarships, worth more than $35 million, that will be offered next spring.
To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.
More than 1.5 million juniors in over 21,000 high schools entered the 2009 National Merit Program by taking the 2007 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, which represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
To become a Finalist, a Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the high school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test. The Semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, which includes the student's self-descriptive essay and information about the Semifinalist's participation and leadership in school and community activities.
Approximately 15,000 Semifinalists are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and it is from this group that all National Merit Scholarship winners will be chosen.
Three types of National Merit Scholarship awards will be offered in the spring of 2009. Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state representational basis. About 1,100 corporate-sponsored scholarships will be provided by some 300 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor's employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located.
In addition, approximately 200 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,600 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2009 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 259,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.