One area student was name a semifinalist in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program.
According to a press release from the National Merit Scholarship Corp., that semifinalist is Kelly A. Blair, a student at Warsaw Community High School.
Officials of the NMSC announced today the names of approximately 16,000 semifinalists in the 57th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,300 National Merit scholarships worth more than $34 million that will be offered next spring.
To be considered for a 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 more than half of the finalists will win a scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.
About 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools entered the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2010 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.
From the approximately 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level. In February,they will be notified of this designation.
