Each year, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation provides scholarships and recognition to students across the nation. Eight seniors earned a National Merit Scholarship finalist title through this program by meeting the student entry requirements, which include being a semifinalist based on their preliminary SAT/ National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) score and submitting an application.

Hunter Stevens

Hunter Stevens is involved in Speech and Debate Club and volunteers at Teen Court. He also works at The Print Shop as a social media consultant. Stevens said he enjoys watching Netflix and hanging out with friends. To prepare for the PSAT, Stevens took 10 practice SATs and memorized around 1,000 vocabulary words.

“If you think you have a shot, then study a lot,” Stevens said. “You can study for it, despite what people say. And a lot of schools are willing to give a lot of money for it.”

James Clynes

James Clynes plays violin in the Sinfonia orchestra and also enjoys hanging out with friends at the park and playing soccer. In order to prepare for the PSAT, Clynes went over SAT review books, identifying  and working on his weaknesses.

“It means a lot,” Clynes said. “It’s something I have been looking forward to or hoping for the the last couple years because it brings a lot of opportunities.”

Betty Huang

Betty Huang plays viola in Chamber orchestra and is involved with dance outside of school. Huang said she loves to read and cook in her free time. She took an SAT prep class at the beginning of her sophomore year, which she said helped her score high on the PSAT.

“Don’t worry about it too much,” Huang said. “Try to get a good score on the PSAT so that even if your finalist application isn’t that good, you can still probably qualify.”

Angela Olinger

Angela Olinger is a company dancer for the Allen Civic Ballet where she dances about 12 hours a week. She is also vice president of the Art Appreciation Club and is a member of National Art Honor Society, National Honor Society and Physics Club.

“Study for the PSAT like you would the SAT because being a finalist comes with tons of scholarship money if you go to the right school,” Olinger said. “Schools will start calling you as soon as they know that your PSAT score is good, so treat the PSAT like the SAT.”

Ian McVittie

Ian McVittie plays for a select baseball team and works at Lifetime Fitness almost full time. When not at school, work or practice, McVittie said he enjoys hanging out with friends. McVittie said that this achievement means a lot to him and got him a full tuition scholarship to college.

“I think a good tip for people, I mean like I am not at the very top. I am actually like top 15 percent,” McVittie said. “So for kids not in the top 10 percent and for people whose GPAs are not crazy, this is something that makes a difference on applications. It’s something easy. You take the test, you get a good score, like I am going to college for free. It makes a huge difference.”

Brittany Hansen

Brittany Hansen plays oboe in Wind Ensemble and enjoys going to church and singing in the youth choir. Hansen is a member of NHS and PALs. She also loves to read and knit in her free time. To prepare for the test she took the practice test in the PSAT booklet.

“It’s really exciting,” Hansen said. “This is something I have wanted since freshman year. Some of my role models that were seniors that year were National Merit finalists, and I looked up to them in that way. It will definitely help with paying for college, and it’s just really awesome to be a part of such a small group of students.”

Matthew Dias

Matthew Dias is in computer science and does programming for the college and career center and the journalism department. Dias said he encourages others to start practicing for the PSAT earlier in order to qualify for the National Merit Program.

“It means that I worked hard and it is finally paying off,” Dias said.

Justin Kong

Justin Kong is on varsity swim team, president of Eagle Depot and a member of the science club. He enjoys spending time with his church youth group and playing ultimate frisbee.

“I think a lot of kids study too hard for the PSAT,” Kong said. “Eventually it gets to the point where they feel like they are not improving because they are just doing it too much. Don’t stress about it, because then you will start to overthink it and over prepare and you might not get the scores you want. Just relax, take a couple practice tests and that’s the best advice I can give.”