Atticus Bross named National Merit Scholarship semifinalist
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
For the second time in three years, a high school student from Palmyra has been named a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist.
Atticus Bross is one of approximately 16,000 students from across the country to be so honored.
“It is a great honor to progress this far in the selection process,” said Bross who is homeschooled while also taking Palmyra High School classes.
“I am fortunate that education is a central theme for my family,” said Bross, who was thankful for the help of several Palmyra teachers for helping him prepare for the qualifying test.
“I would like to thank several Palmyra teachers who helped prepare me for this type of exam: Ellen Stuhlman, Nicole Gard, Betsy Brass, Angela Keppner and Katy Fuqua,” Bross said. “Also, Mr. (Jared) Pontius has been very patient with my father.”
Bross indicated the actual exam might not have been the toughest step in the NMS process.
“Sometimes, filling in all the personal information is more stressful than taking the exam,” he said.
Bross and the other semifinalists now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,140 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring, according to a news release issued by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.
About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 320 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.
Bross was one of over 1.3 million students in about 21,000 high schools who entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.
The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.
A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
From over 16,000 semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation.
All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists.
Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin or religious preference.
Three types of National Merit scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2024. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis.
About 840 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 160 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 160 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,800 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2024 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.
These scholarship recipients will join nearly 375,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.
Related Posts
