Traverse City Central High School student, Anna Frick, has been named as a semifinalist in the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program. Anna was one of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists named on September 10, 2008 by officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). 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 dollars, which 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.
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 $2,500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state representational basis. Some 300 corporations and business organizations will provide about 1,100 corporate-sponsored scholarships for Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of 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.
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 Semifinalist in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduation 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 students’ earlier performance on the qualifying test. The Semifinalist and 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. Merit Scholar designees are selected on basis of their skill, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2009 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 259,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
Please contact Tracy Carra at Traverse City Central High School at 933-8698 for more information. To learn more about the National Merit Scholarship Program, visit the NMSC
Web site at www.nationalmerit.org.