Two Waukee Students Advance in National Merit Scholarship Competition

Principal Kirk Johnson announced Monday that Waukee students Kyle Cutler and Bailey McClurg are finalists in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The National Merit Scholarship Program will award more than 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $34 million to academically-gifted high school seniors this year. To be considered for a scholarship, finalists must have fulfilled several requirements to advance to this level of the competition.

“Waukee High School and the Waukee Community School District praise Kyle and Bailey for this exceptional educational accomplishment,” Johnson wrote in a news release to Waukee Patch. “Both of these young people have opened doors to multiple opportunities through their hard work and commitment to exceptional levels of achievement.”

In September, four other Waukee High School seniors were given letters of commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Program. Carter Bell, Brian Dannenmueller, Joshua James and Tucker Melvin will receive recognition for exceptional academic performance but do not go on to compete for the National Merit Scholarship.

Students recognized in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program were chosen based on the results of the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The 1.5 million participants came from more than 22,000 high schools across the country.