The Log
DHS has 3 of 16,000 finalistsMonday, April 07, 2008 By KATHLEEN POPE
High School seniors across the nation are hesitant, wondering if they will get into the colleges of their choice and wondering how they stack up to other high schoolers across the country. Rachel Beckman, John Liu, and Hannah Kagan-Moore are three Danville High School seniors who know how they stack up as they have been selected as National Merit Finalists for 2008. Nearly 1.4 million students from across the country enter the contest each year. Beckman, Liu, and Kagan-Moore were 3 of 16,000 selected from the 1.4 million as National Merit Semifinalists in September 2007. Students are selected as semifinalists based on their PSAT scores. “The semifinalists fill out an application with their SAT score and their preferred colleges along with a collegeentrance- type essay and send it into the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. They pick the finalists from those applications,” explains Beckman, one of DHS’s finalists. From the aforementioned applications the corporation selects 15,000 finalists. From March until mid-June 8,200 finalists are notified that they have received scholarships from the corporation. This honor holds potential positive impacts on these DHS seniors. “Many public universities will offer a full scholarship for you to go there,” says Liu. Also, all finalists are in the running for numerous corporate sponsored scholarships. Rachel Beckman says that she is excited. “Any kind of money for college is good. Just to have made it to this level is a big honor.” The finalists will be notified sometime in April of the actual amount of their scholarship. |