7 Hightstown HS Seniors Recognized in National Merit Scholarship Competition

Seven Hightstown High School seniors have been recognized in this year’s National Merit Scholarship Competition. A Letter of Commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), which conducts the program, will be presented to these scholastically talented students.

The National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP) is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®)—a test which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.5 million entrants each year. Students must also meet certain published program entry and participation requirements. Of the 1.5 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores qualify for recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program. In September, these high scorers are notified through their schools that they have qualified as either a Commended Student or a Semifinalist.

Hightstown High School senior Daniel Cohen is one of 16,000 Semifinalists across the country in the 59th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. Cohen will have the opportunity to continue in the final round of the competition for some 8,000 National Merit Scholarships worth about $35 million that will be offered next spring.

Mathew H. Dolan, Sonia Kelkar, Courtney Lenzo, Alexandra Nickerson and Yu Sheng Rong have been named as Commended Students. These seniors are among the approximately 34,000 students throughout the nation being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2014 competition for National Merit Scholarships, Commended Students placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2014 competition by taking the 2012 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

“The young men and women being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success,” commented a spokesperson for NMSC. “These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key roles their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success.”

Senior Oluwole Odusola of Hightstown High School is among some 3,100 Outstanding Participants in the National Achievement Scholarship Program being referred to U.S. colleges and universities.

These students scored in the top 3 percent of more than 160,000 Black Americans who requested consideration in the 2014 National Achievement Program when they took the 2012 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. A roster of these students’ names, high schools, and tentative college major choices is being sent to about 1,500 colleges and universities.