WestChesterBuzz.com

Sue Kiesewetter reports:

Two Lakota East High School seniors are among 1,000 students nationally who are receiving corporate scholarships in the National Merit Scholarship program.

Scholarships range from $500 to $10,000 per year, with most renewable for up to four years. Exact amounts of the scholarships are not released by National Merit.

Jeffrey Back is receiving a Macy’s award and plans to study industrial design. Jamie Silver is receiving a Siemens scholarship and plans to study computer programming.

The scholarships can be used at any college or university in the country. The announcement is the first of four scholarship releases of corporate, college and National Merit scholarships that will be awarded between April and July to finalists who represent less than one percent of all seniors nationally.

Altogether, about 8,000 finalists will have been selected to receive scholarships valued at more than $35 million by the end of July.

The finalists were among 1.5 million who entered the 2013 competition by taking the 2011 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as juniors.

Posted in: Schools |

Tags: Tags: Lakota East, Lakota East High School, Lakota East National Merit Finalists, National Merit Scholarship Program

Lakota West and Lakota East recently announced its National Merit Finalists. Receiving the honor included seniors Jeffery Back, Ethan Bennett, Christina Clyde, Meghan Gibbons, Sophia Li, Paul Register, Jamie Silva, Abd Alrahman Traboulsi and Jasmine Tuazon.

Approximately 1.5 million students take the preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship qualifying test, from which about 8,300 Merit Scholarship winners are determined. In March, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation will begin mailing scholarship offers to winners, based on test scores, overall academic record and recommendations.

Earlier this month, Lakota West seniors Evan Campbell and Marcus Moore were both named finalists in the National Achievement Scholarship Program.

The scholarship program is an academic competition established in 1964 to provide recognition for outstanding black American high school students. Campbell and Moore entered the competition as high school juniors by taking the 2011 preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship qualifying test. Both students were recognized recently at a school board meeting for having achieved semifinalist status in the program.

Of the more than 160,000 students who currently enter the National Achievement Program each year, about one percent are named semifinalists. From that group, about 800 will be selected as finalists to receive National Achievement Scholarships.

Posted in: Schools, Student achievements |

Tags: Tags: Abd Alrahman Traboulsi, Christina Clyde, Ethan Bennett, Jamie Silva, Jasmine Tuazon, Jeffery Back, Lakota East, Lakota East National Achievement Award, Lakota East National Merit Finalists, Lakota West, Lakota West National Merit Finalists, Lakota West student achievements, Meghan Gibbons, Paul Register, Sophia Li

A total of 10 local students have been named semifinalists in the 2013 Natioinal Merit Scholarship Program. The students are among approximately 16,000 named this week in the program.

The recognized students include Jeffrey Back, Christina Clyde, Meghan Gibbons, Sophia Li, Jamie Silva and Jasmine Tuazon of Lakota East; Ethan Bennett, Paul Register and Abd Alrahman Traboulsi of Lakota West; and Amber Nix of West Chester (homeschool).

These high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring, according to a press release from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The nationwide pool of semifinalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors.

To become a finalist, the semifinalist and their high school must submit a detailed scholarship application with information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, and honors and awards received.

From the approximately 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level and in February they will be notified of this designation.

All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of finalists and will be announced between April or July.

Posted in: Schools, Student achievements |

Tags: Tags: Abd Alrahman Traboulsi, Amber Nix, Christina Clyde, Ethan Bennett, Jamie Silva, Jasmine Tuazon, Jeff Back, Jeffrey Back, Lakota East, Lakota East High School, Lakota East National Achievement Award, Lakota East National Merit Finalists, Lakota West, Lakota West High School, Lakota West National Merit Finalists, Lakota West student achievements, Meghan Gibbons, National Achievement Award, National Merit Finalists, National Merit Scholarship Program, National Merit Semi-Finalists, Paul Register, Sophia Li

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 |

Tags: Tags: Adam Williams, Andy Giese, Dwight Hu, Esther Cunningham, Johanna Blake, Kayla McGinnis, Lakota East, Lakota East National Achievement Award, Lakota East National Merit Finalists, Lakota West, Lakota West National Merit Finalists, Lakota West student achievements, Laura Moak, Mars Hill Academy, Mars Hill Academy Mason, Michael Dudley, National Achievement Award, National Merit Finalists, National Merit Scholarship Program, National Merit Semi-Finalists, Preliminary Scholastic Achievement Test, Sophia Cramer, Whitney Wyckoff

Lakota West and Lakota East announced Monday its National Merit Finalists. Receiving the honor from Lakota West High School 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 High School.

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.

Lakota East also had a 2012 National Achievement Award winner through this same competition. Michael Dudley was named a finalist in this competition through the College Board.

The National Achievement Scholarship Program is an academic competition established in 1964 to provide recognition for outstanding Black American high school students. Black students may enter both the National Achievement Program and the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) and meeting other published requirements for participation.

The two annual programs are conducted concurrently but operated and funded separately. A student’s standing is determined independently in each program. Black American students can qualify for recognition and be honored as Scholars in both the National Merit Program and the National Achievement Program, but can receive only one monetary award from NMSC.

Posted in: Schools, Student achievements |

Tags: Tags: Adam Williams, Dwight Hu, Johanna Blake, Kayla McGinnis, Lakota East, Lakota East National Achievement Award, Lakota East National Merit Finalists, Lakota West, Lakota West National Merit Finalists, Lakota West student achievements, Laura Moak, Michael Dudley, National Achievement Award, National Merit Finalists, Sophia Cramer, Whitney Wyckoff