Last week the names of approximately 16,000 semifinalists in the 56th annual National Merit Scholarship Program were announced by officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Included in the release are the names of three Warsaw Community High School current senior students. They are Haley Owen, Daniel Hamman and Jeremy Meadows.
Troy Akers, Warsaw Community High School principal, also announced Tuesday afternoon the Commended Students in the 2011 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Those students include Kristin E. Allen, Zachary S. Erba, Marcella A. Ettinger, Audrey C. Findlay, Hugh A. Freeman, Gavin McGrath, Emily L. O'Daniels, Matthew D. Reinholt, Luke Secaur, Brittany Skibowski, Eric Smolen and Maggie White.
A letter of commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corp., which conducts the program, will be presented by the principal to these seniors.
Owen, Hamman and Meadows have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,400 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $36 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.
About 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools entered the 2011 National MeritScholarship Program by taking the 2009 Preliminary sat/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test , which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, which represents less than 1 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 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. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2011 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 275,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2011 competition for National Merit Scholarships, Commended Students placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2011 competition by taking the 2009 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
