Story by Gavin Bartolome
Staff Writer
Photo by Contributor
The National Merit Scholarship Program is one of the largest annual academic events in the United States, recognizing students who demonstrate high academic talent. On Wednesday, Sept. 11, SPHS announced that nine of its students have been named as semifinalists for several large scholarship grants acknowledging their academic abilities.
The students — William Chang, Peter Dickinson, Ethan (Suh-Hyun) Kang, Isole Kim, Max Slattery, Morgan Sun, Ryan Wong, Christine Xu, and Ty (Taidi) Yue — are among 16,000 semifinalists nationwide.
To advance as semifinalists, the students earned among the highest scores in California on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) administered by the College Board. The test is taken on a computer for a little more than two hours and tests the individual’s skills in reading and mathematics in a series of questions similar to the SAT. Each subject tested has scores ranging from 160-760, with a total of 1520 possible points. The highest scorers in each state then receive confirmation a year later, as seniors, that they have reached the semifinals.
From here on, semifinalists must test to become finalists in the program. To do so, participants need to complete the National Merit Scholarship Application provided by NMSC and fulfill several other requirements, which can be viewed at nationalmerit.imodules.com. These requirements include attending a high school, having academically strong grades throughout the year, and being backed by the school administration.
For making it this far, all semifinalists were displayed in a nationwide broadcast to news media on Wednesday, Sept. 11. In addition, a list of semifinalists in high school was sent to all U.S. four-year colleges and universities to enhance their educational opportunities. From semifinalists, around 95 percent of contenders are expected to progress into finals. Finalists will then have the chance to receive large scholarships of up to $2,500 by competing with other finalists.
For any contender hoping to proceed into finals, a letter will be sent to their high school principal on Feb. 3, 2025, notifying them of their result.
