Students Earn National Merit Scholar Semifinalist Honor
This year, Montverde Academy has the privilege of recognizing several students who have earned incredible academic achievements.
Senior Layla Aziz earned Commended Scholar status. In late September, more than two-thirds (about 34,000) of the approximately 50,000 high scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT received Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise. Commended Students are named based on a nationally applied Selection Index score that may vary from year to year and is typically below the level required for participants to be named Semifinalists in their respective states. Although Commended Students do not continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships, some of these students do become candidates for Special Scholarships sponsored by corporations and businesses.
Of the five National Merit Semifinalists in Lake County High Schools this year, Montverde Academy has three of them. Christopher J. Hamlin, Ethan J. Kaufman, and Krishna H. Patel have earned this incredible achievement. Of the 1.5 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores (calculated by doubling the sum of the Reading, Writing, and Language, and Math Test scores) qualified for recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program. In September, these high scorers are notified through their schools that they have qualified as either Commended Students or Semifinalists. Of the 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® about 16,000 students, or approximately one-third of the 50,000 high scorers, are notified that they have qualified as Semifinalists. Semifinalists are the highest-scoring entrants in each state. Qualifying scores vary from state to state and from year to year, but the scores of all Semifinalists are extremely high.
National Merit Scholarship Cooperation
High School students enter the National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®) as juniors. Each year’s PSAT/NMSQT is the qualifying test designated for entry to a particular year’s competition.