Mercer Island High School issued the following announcement.
Nine Mercer Island High School students have been announced as semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship program.
The students are Annika Bhananaker, Nathanael Cadicamo, Caden Gradek, Jacob Grosof, Wesley Ho, William Spencer, Kevin Wang, Shoko Wichman and Emily Yang.
MIHS Principal Walter Kelly and members of the high school administrative team visited each semifinalist’s home to congratulate them.
“This is a wonderful honor for these students,” Kelly said. “It was special to surprise each semifinalist at their home and include their families.”
These seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 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 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of 16,000 semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and his or her high school must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official and write an essay.
For more information about the competition, please visit NMSC’s website at www.nationalmerit.org.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up