Three Willowbrook seniors named as semifinalists in 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program

Pictured are Willowbrook seniors (from left) Jackson Hathaway, Maxwell Polanek and Annie Ross, who have been named as Semifinalists in the 64th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Three Willowbrook seniors have been named as Semifinalists in the 64th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. They are Jackson Hathaway, Maxwell Polanek and Annie Ross.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) recently announced the names of about 16,000 Semifinalists, who have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million that will be offered this spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition.

More than 1.6 million juniors in about 22,000 high schools entered the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2017 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 1 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 the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and his or her high school must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

For more information, go to https://tinyurl.com/y6wd4u9d.