Five Fleming Island High School students are named National Merit Finalists

Post date: Feb 28, 2017 3:08:29 PM

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has recognized the following five Fleming Island High School seniors as finalists in the 2016 National Merit Scholarship competition: Colton Braddy, Lauren Eckert, Sydney Hayes, Halle Gibson and Giselle Palaca. All five of these students are seniors in Fleming Island High School’s AICE Program.

These students have distinguished themselves among 1.5 million students from more than 21,000 high schools. The PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, taken during the junior year, serves as the initial screen of program entrants. Among the 1.5 million entrants in the program, only 15,000 are recognized as finalists, and only 7,500 became Merit Scholarship winners. Representing less that 1 percent of each state's high school seniors, semifinalists are the highest-scoring program entrants in each state.

To become a finalist, a semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, must be endorsed and recommended by the high school principal, and must earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test. The semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, which includes the student's self-descriptive essay and information about the semifinalist's participation and leadership in school and community activities.

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2017. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 240 corporations and business organizations for finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor's employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located.

In addition, about 200 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,100 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution. National Merit Scholarship winners of 2016 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 308,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.