Two members of the Madeira High School (MHS) Class of 2024 have been named as National Merit Semifinalists in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Audrey Chalfie and Andrew Cissell will continue in the competition for some 7,140 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered in the spring of 2024.
The National Merit® Scholarship Program (NMSC), is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®)—which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.5 million entrants each year—and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements. Semifinalists must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the school, write an essay, and earn scores that confirm the students’ performance on an earlier test.
Approximately 95% of over 16,000 Semifinalists are expected to advance to the Finalist level. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group and announced in nationwide news releases in the spring. Those scholarship recipients will join more than 368,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title. National Merit Scholarship winners of 2024 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.
MHS also had eight Commended Students: Samuel Gaugh, Caroline Harrison, Nicholas Hyland, Andrew Sampson, Jeffrey Schwallie, Matthew Smith, Luke Spencer, and Lily Zoeckler (pictured below left). MHS juniors Ava Henry, Anna Cornejo, Mariana Caceres, Eric Luther, Jon Miguel Lawrence, and Mateo Ramirez Laverde Guzman have each received the National Hispanic Recognition Award through the College Board National Hispanic Recognition Program. Maxwell James and Samuel McClain have been named National African-American Scholars (pictured below right).
Congratulations to all!
