The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced that a pair of Mariemont High School seniors, Andrew Chen and Alexandra Purdy, earned the distinction of National Merit Semifinalist.
As semifinalists, Chen and Purdy placed in the top one-half of one percent from the nearly 1.6 million students who took the PSAT last fall. They will now continue on in the 2020 competition in the hopes of earning one of 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million to be offered next spring.
“Becoming a National Merit semifinalist is a tremendous honor and I am proud of Alexandra and Andrew for accomplishing this feat” said MHS principal Dr. Jim Renner. “They each have worked extremely hard both in and out of the classroom and are great representatives of our school. Our entire Mariemont school community commends them for their dedication and achievement.”
The National Merit® Scholarship Program 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 — which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.6 million entrants each year— and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements.
Additional Mariemont High School seniors have the opportunity to earn National Merit Scholar status when the list of Commended Students is released later this month.