13 Students In Hunt for National Merit Scholarships

A baker’s dozen of seniors are among the best and brightest American high school students still in the hunt for approximately 8,300 National Merit Scholarships.

They are:

• Tate Burns
• Hayley Byrnes
• Andrew Chen
• Gabriel Ellis
• Allisan Farrand
• Genevra Galura
• Heather Harmon
• Julia Hogikyan
• Emily Jablonski
• Aaron Mukerjee
• Madeline Parkinson
• Julia Prisby
• Karl Winsor

“Being a finalist is an incredible academic achievement. It’s a testament to the incredibly rigorous curriculum these students have embarked on since the ninth grade,” said Eric Diroff, interim principal of Saline High School. “It’s an outstanding feat for each one of these students as they wrap up their careers here at Saline High School.”

More than half of the nation’s finalists are expected to win the National Merit Scholarship and earn the title of “Merit Scholar.”

To become a finalist a senior 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 test.  The student and a high school official submitted a detailed scholarship application, which includes the student’s essay and information about the student’s participation and leadership in school and community activities.

Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 240 corporations and business organizations for finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 200 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,800 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2012 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 283,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.