Charles Bond, Ivie Ebhojiaye, Kristen Ramsey, and Brenda Zhang, all seniors at ERHS, were selected as semifinalists this September for the National Merit Scholarship. They were selected based on their PSAT scores from their junior year, and other academic achievements.

Whether they are finalists and has not yet been revealed.

Charles Bond said he was “incredibly excited and honored” to hear he qualified for the scholarship, which opens up many opportunities to students who get it. To prepare for the SAT, Bond took a PSAT prep class with Mr. Miller one summer. He recommended that underclassmen who are interested in this scholarship “take the PSAT as many times as possible, and do practice tests” before the actual test.

Senior Brenda Zhang said she is “very happy” that she was selected for this scholarship. Zhang worked with an SAT tutor for two years, mostly during the summer and some parts of the school year. The PSAT and SAT are similar, and so studying for one typically helps improve scores on both.

She says “most of what tutors help you with is grammar,” and because of the upcoming removal of the writing section from the SAT in 2016, she says “SAT books will probably be more helpful.” Zhang scored 2220 on the SAT her first time taking it, and a 229 on the PSAT.  She took the SAT again since when she got a 2220. She also said “memorizing vocabulary for the SAT might help.” Her last tip to students taking the SAT: definitely take it twice.

The National Merit Scholarship Program was founded in 1955, and has been providing scholarships to high school students ever since. In order to qualify for this scholarship, students must have taken the PSAT within the first three years of high school. Students must also plan to enroll in college in the near future, and must be either a current U.S. citizen or be planning to become a U.S. citizen as soon as possible.

There are about 1.4 million entries of students, and about 50,000 will qualify for this scholarship. Then, 16,000 students are notified they are semifinalists in September of each year. This year, students at ERHS were notified via the morning announcements.

Finalists are selected and notified in the following spring of being selected in the fall. The number is usually around 15,000 students. From march to June, about 7600 finalists are notified that they will receive a scholarship. The three types of scholarships include the National Merit Scholarship, the Corporate-sponsored merit scholarship, and the College-sponsored merit scholarship.