55 Solon High School seniors have been recognized by the National Merit program. Twenty eight seniors received the National Merit Commended Scholars and 27 received National Merit Semifinalists. The difference between the commended and the semifinalists is that the commended get recognized while the semi finalists go on and compete for scholarships.
The National Merit Scholarship was established in 1995. The program is a scholarship opportunity for students in high school based on their PSAT scores. Less than one percent of students who enter the competition get the scholarship.
Josie Howard, one of the National Merit Semifinalists, said being a finalist provides opportunities and looks good on college transcripts.
“Being a National Merit Scholar finalist provides opportunities for scholarships for college of up to $2500 that are only offered to National Merit Scholars,” Howard said.
Many students have different ways of preparing for the PSAT. National Merit Semifinalist Tyler Morrison said he did in-class practice that helped him when taking the PSAT.
“We did extensive practice in Honors English 11 class,” Morrison said.
For the students who got the National Merit Commended Scholarship, their journey is over, but the Semi-Finalists have one last attempt to try and get the scholarship. Counselor Anne Trocchio said that Semi-Finalists need to get the help of their teachers to get a chance at the scholarship.
“Teachers must write a letter of recommendation for the students competing in the finalist round,” said Trocchio. ” [The students must be] endorsed and recommended by a school official–counselors have extensive work to complete, [finally, students must be] confirmed by the principal.”
Semi-finalists will know if they made the finals through their schools. According to Search Logistics, “22% of undergraduates received merit-based scholarships.”
Solon has the one of the largest amount of National Merit students in Ohio. Trocchio believe this is because of the preparation the Solon teachers provide.
“ At SHS, our teachers take a look at the pre-ACT and PSAT data from grade 10,” Trocchio said, “They identify our students’ weaknesses based on their results and target those weaknesses during instruction. Students are learning those skills without knowing it during their classes.”
