Three Addison Trail seniors recognized in 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program

Pictured is Addison Trail senior Jonathan Loi, who has been named as a semifinalist in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Pictured are Addison Trail seniors Max Dziabis (left) and Ryan Cabildo, who have been named as Commended Students in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Addison Trail senior Jonathan Loi has been named as a semifinalist in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Loi is one of about 16,000 students who have been named as semifinalists in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

According to the NMSC, Loi now has the opportunity to earn a National Merit Scholarship this spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Loi must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.

According to the NMSC, about 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to that state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in spring 2017, and recipients will be announced between April and July.

• 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 about 230 corporations and business organizations for finalists who meet their specified criteria.
• About 190 colleges and universities are expected to finance about 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

Seniors Max Dziabis and Ryan Cabildo have been named as Commended Students in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Although they will not continue in the 2017 competition for National Merit Scholarships, Commended Students placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1.6 million students who entered the 2017 competition by taking the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the U.S. are being recognized for the exceptional academic promise demonstrated by their outstanding performance on the PSAT/NMSQT®.