Huntington Trio Named
National Merit Finalists
Charles Beers, Caitlin Knowles and Joseph Saginaw have been named National Merit Finalists, elevating the Huntington High School trio into the ranks of an elite circle of United States seniors.
The teenagers are among a select group of 15,000 academically high powered American seniors. Each of the Huntington finalists was presented a certificate by high school Principal Carmela Leonardi on behalf of the National Merit scholarship program. Beginning in mid-March and continuing through mid-June, about 7,600 finalists will be notified they have won a scholarship award.
“I was thrilled to receive this news,” Ms. Knowles said. “I am very honored by this distinction and I am hoping for the best regarding the final round of the competition.” The teenager is still undecided as to where she will attend college. She has already been accepted by the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The senior is still waiting to hear back from a few colleges in March before making a final decision.
Merit scholarship awards include $2,500 National Merit scholarships; corporate sponsored scholarships; college sponsored scholarships. The program is supported by 440 independent sponsors and the National Merit Scholarship Corp.’s own monies. About $33 million is available this year.
“I was very excited to hear about becoming a finalist,” Mr. Saginaw said. “My congratulations to Charles and Caitlin as well, who are both very deserving of this honor.” The senior plans to study mechanical engineering in college. He has been accepted to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, but is still waiting to hear from University of California at Berkley, Cal Poly, Northwestern University, MIT and Cornell University.
The National Merit scholarship program, which dates to 1955, provides recognition and scholarships for top students. About 16,000 seniors advanced to the semi-final round of the competition and another 34,000 students received letters of commendation.
“I continue to be amazed and excited by this tremendous honor,” Mr. Beers said. “Being named a finalist for the National Merit scholarship program is something I didn’t think possible, but I am extremely grateful for the recognition. What makes it even better is that both of my friends, Caitlin and Joe share this achievement with me. I’d like to thank all of my teachers, past and present, for all of their guidance and support along the way.”
Mr. Beers said he hopes to have responses to all of his college applications by the end of March. He’ll make his final decision at that time.
The 60th annual National Merit competition drew more than 1.5 million teenagers from 22,000 high schools. The students “entered the 2014 National Merit program by taking the 2013 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants,” according to the National Merit website. “The nationwide pool of semi-finalists, which represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.”
In addition to high scores on the PSAT/NMSQT, National Merit scholarship competitors must also meet various stringent participation requirements. They are eventually assigned a “selection index” that is based on their critical reading, math and writing skills scores.