Three BCHS students named National Merit Scholar Semifinalists
Semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of high school seniors
Three Bethlehem Central High School seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2011 National Merit Scholarship (NMS) Competition this fall.
Sarah Booker, Michael Clawar and Sam Heller were chosen as members of the nationwide pool of 16,000 semifinalists. That group accounts for less than one percent of high school seniors in the United States.
The students earned the recognition based on their performance on the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship.
“It’s really an affirmation of the hard work I put into schoolwork,” said Michael, who took the PSAT on a makeup day.
Sarah said she was pleasantly surprised at being named a semifinalist.
“I was kind of on the edge as to whether or not I thought I was going to make it,” she said. “But it’s very exciting being named a semifinalist.”
Sam said he was also surprised.
“I don’t really consider myself one of the smart kids,” he said. “I probably don’t study as much as I should, but I felt good going into the PSAT because they’re based on critical thinking, not prior knowledge.”
These academically talented students have an
opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,400 National
Merit Scholarships, worth more than $36 million, that will be
offered next spring.
To become a finalist and ultimately win a scholarship, students are
judged on several criteria, including academic performance, SAT
scores, recommendations and their application to the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation.