Academic achievement does not go unnoticed at Wheeling Park High School as seniors Grant Kenamond, Ryan Linder, and Kathryn Prather were named National Merit Semifinalists.
“It is based on your PSAT score your junior year and each state has a certain cutoff for PSAT takers to be eligible for National Merit Semifinalist,” said Kenamond, who will be among the 16,000 semifinalists competing to be a part of the 7,250 National Merit Scholarship winners.
“Now we have to submit applications to become a finalist. From there they choose about half the semifinalists who will get the scholarship money and the title of ‘Merit Scholar,’” said Linder, on the upcoming steps to take to become a Merit Scholar.
“It helps a lot when applying, and it looks very good, ” said Prather, in regard to the importance of being a Merit Semifinalist when applying to big schools. “And being a Merit Scholar means money to help go to those bigger schools.”
If elected as a Merit Scholar, they will be one of the 7,250 to receive scholarships with a total prize pool of $28 million.
