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GHS Senior in the Running for National Merit Scholarship

Finalists to be Chosen in 2016

The National Merit Scholarship Program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

Zach Miller, a GHS senior, has been announced as a semi-finalist and could advance as a finalist if certain requirements are fulfilled.

What makes this accomplishment extraordinary, according to GHS principal Shawnda Zahara-Harris, is that only 52 of the approximate 16,000 semi-finalists are Montana students. Of those 52, only two are from Class B schools.

According to a press release from the National Merit Scholarship Program, Miller was one of about 1.5 million juniors who completed a preliminary SAT and qualifying test. This served as an initial screen of program entrants.

The nationwide pool of semi-finalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. The number of semi-finalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating seniors. In a nutshell, Miller is smart.

To become a finalist, Miller will have to submit a detailed scholarship application – including information about his academic record, school and community participation, leadership abilities, employment and honors/awards received. In addition, Miller must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn an SAT score that confirms his earlier performance on the qualifying test. In a nutshell, there's lots more to do.

Three types of scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2016. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. Approximately 1,000 other scholarships will be awarded by corporations or business organizations to students who meet specific criteria. Finally, there are nearly 4,000 college-sponsored scholarships expected to be awarded to students who attend the sponsor institution. In a nutshell, there's lots of money to go around.

National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced between April and July, 2016.

 

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