Clark student named National Merit semifinalist
Published 9:59 am Tuesday, September 17, 2019
- Sarah Vickers is a George Rogers Clark High School senior who is studying at Western Kentucky University's The Gatton Academy for Math and Science. (Photo courtesy of Gatton Academy)
A Clark County student has been named a National Merit semifinalist.
Sarah Vickers, a GRCHS senior who is studying this year at The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky, was selected from more than 1.5 million juniors who entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as the initial screen of program entrants.
From this list comes the nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, and includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.
From the approximately 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level.
To become a finalist, a semifinalist and their school must submit a detailed scholarship application, which provides 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 their high school career, 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.
