Nine Utica Community Schools students are among only 16,000 U.S. seniors to be named 2019 National Merit semifinalists.
UCS National Merit Semi-finalists are: Emme Fidler and Susan Holtan, of Henry Ford II High School; Drew Beckman, of Stevenson High School; Brian Jones, Nicholas Koshy, and Samantha Souder, of Eisenhower High School; and Megan Botkin, Katelynn Paluch, and George Paul, of the Utica Academy for International Studies. Beckman, Fidler, Koshy, Holtan and Souder also attend the Utica Center for Mathematics, Science and Industry.
More than 1.6 million students of the Class of 2019 entered the National Merit Program by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The nationwide pool of semi-finalists includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.
To move from semi-finalist to finalist status, students must submit a detailed scholarship application. The application includes information about their academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership, an essay, record of consistently high academic performance, a recommendation by an official of their high school, and SAT scores that confirm their PSAT/NMSQT performance.
Finalists have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships totaling $31 million next spring.