Two Mars Hill Academy seniors, Andy Giese of West Chester and Esther Cunningham of Liberty Township, recently achieved finalist status in the National Merit Scholar program.
Giese and Cunningham had been named semi-finalists in the fall due to their qualifying scores on the Preliminary Scholastic Achievement Test. To become a finalist, a semi-finalist 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 PSAT.
Earlier this month, Lakota West and Lakota East high schools announced its National Merit Finalists. Receiving the honor from Lakota West included seniors Johanna Blake, Sophia Cramer, Kayla McGinnis and Adam Williams. Meanwhile, Dwight Hu, Whitney Wyckoff and Laura Moak received the honor from Lakota East.
Lakota East also had a 2012 National Achievement Award winner in Michael Dudley through this same competition.
Approximately 1.5 million juniors representing 22,000 high schools nationwide take the PSAT each year; less than 4 percent of these students receive recognition as either semi-finalists or commended students. Semi-finalists represent less than 1 percent of seniors nationwide.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is now in the process of selecting the winners for 8,400 Merit Scholarships that will be awarded beginning in March.
Posted in: Schools, Student achievements |
