This year, several Schreiber students were awarded the National Merit Scholar honor, an annual competition for high schoolers of academic excellence. Students become eligible by taking the PSAT (preliminary SAT) or NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test). The competition began in 1955, and has taken place every year since. To qualify for this year’s competition, juniors must take the PSAT or NMSQT this Oct.
Students often take the PSAT their sophomore year as practice for the SAT which can be taken later in their high school career, but many juniors take the PSAT with the knowledge of possibly receiving this distinction.
“Being a National Merit Commended Scholar was honestly not something I was expecting to receive, but I am glad I decided to take the PSAT and go for it, and I think it is something that the current juniors should at least try,” said senior Max Siskin.
In the National Merit competition, there are three types of honors that students can receive. Out of the 1.3 million students who take the qualifying exam, 34,000 are regarded as a “commended scholar,” with a letter of commendation from the NMSC. 16,000 students who took the qualifying exam are regarded as a “National Merit semifinalist” (the highest scoring students from each U.S. state), while 15,000 students who took the exam are regarded as National Merit finalists. These students can apply for scholarships through the NMSC, and the “commended scholars” and “National Merit semifinalists” were notified of their honors in Sept. Winners of this specific award receive a certificate of merit from the NMSC.
In order to become a finalist, a student must be recommended by their principal for the finalist standing, have a high academic record throughout high school, write an essay, and have an excellent score from their standardized test (ACT or SAT). The National Merit finalists are to be notified of their honor in Feb. 2025.
There are two types of scholarships that the NMSC gives out: Special Scholarships and Merit Scholarships. Special Scholarship winners are chosen by applications from any student, not just National Merit finalists, semifinalists, or commended scholars. The 710 winners of Special Scholarships are chosen from the eligibility criteria from the sponsors of the NMSC.
The 6,870 Merit Scholarships are chosen from the National Merit finalists. Students can win $2,500 scholarships toward higher education, and/or receive corporate-sponsored scholarships or college-sponsored scholarships.
“Even though I decided to take the ACT for my college application, I wanted to take the PSAT to try for the National Merit recognition. I’m very happy I was named a commended scholar, so I think it is worth it for everyone to take the PSAT regardless of what test you end up taking because you never know if you might end up with prestigious recognition,” said senior Addyson Rejwan.
This year, 32 students from Schreiber have been named as commended scholars, and five Schreiber students have been named as National Merit semifinalists. The commended scholars from Schreiber are seniors Chiara Amodeo, Kenneth Daly, Brynn Danow, Lukas Derasmo, Samantha Di Vito, Isabella Didriksen, Kathryn Djohan, Leah Dong, Kirin Doshi, Cody Feldman, Alex Gallik-Kuzmicki, Harry Gindi, Benjamin Gordan, Roman Hokanson, Benjamin Kollapalil, Annie Li, Nyra Mehra, Alexandra Miller, Benjamin Ollendorff, Eunice Park, Sadelle Poulsen, Addyson Rejwan, Audrey Ren, Mia Rochester, Christian Sarchese, Max Siskin, Justin Sung, Zachary Tessler, Tilden Vaezi, Thomas Xie, Ethan Yeung, and Fiona Zeng.
“I am glad I decided to take the PSAT last year, and the National Merit scholar honor is something that recognizes the hard work and hours the Schreiber seniors have put into standardized tests throughout our high school career,” said senior Sadie Poulsen.
The semifinalists from Schreiber are Jayden Doshi, Julian Kimball, Austin Li, Ezra Schulmiller, and Brigid Southard.
Some former winners of this honor include Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft), Elena Kagan (Supreme Court Justice), Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post), and Stephanie Meyer (author of the Twilight book series).
Schreiber has had many students named National Merit finalists in the past, and can anticipate more added soon.