Three HMHS Students Reach Semifinals of National Merit Scholarships

students David J. Jacobowitz, Emma K. VanDervort and Michael H. Zaleski have been selected as semifinalists in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Competition.

More than 1.5 million juniors in over 22,000 high schools entered the 2012 National Merit program by taking the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, which represents less than 1 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.

Approximately 15,000 semifinalists are expected to advance to the finalist level from which National Merit Scholarship winners will be chosen. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies.