Oct. 2, 2013: Five Bronxville School seniors have qualified as semifinalists in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program. They are Julia Goldman, Malika Laurence, Jak Magaud, Elizabeth McGough, and Kyle Swanson.

The five are in a small percentage of the highest-scoring students among the approximately 1.5 million juniors who took the PSAT in October of 2012.  

Approximately 16,000 students were named as semifinalists and were chosen because of their high scores on the PSAT. Semifinalists qualify as finalists by completing the scholarship application and by meeting the various other requirements prescribed by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

An additional 34,000 students were designated as "commended students." They scored among the top 50,000. Bronxville's commended students this year are Emma Berry, Spencer Borwick, Elizabeth Cory, Gina Elbert, Owen Hayes, Angelina Massa, Anirudh Reddy, and Fiona Roediger.

According to Anne Abbatecola, director of counseling at Bronxville High School, the names of the semifinalists and commended students (50,000 in all) are published and can be accessed by the colleges.

The Bronxville semifinalists are now busy completing requested information and will be notified in February whether they advance to the finalist level.

A press release from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation explains: "To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and their high school 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 scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test." About 15,000 of the approximately 16,000 semifinalists are expected to advance to the finalist level to compete for 8,000 National Merit Scholarships to be offered in the spring of 2014.

The press release explains that there are three types of National Merit Scholarships that will be offered: "Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 240 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 200 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,500 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution." Winners will be announced in four news releases from April to July.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation describes its program in the press release as follows: "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 440 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."

Pictured here (L to R): National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists Jak Magaud, Kyle Swanson, Elizabeth McGough, Julia Goldman, and Malika Laurence.

Photo courtesy Anne Abbatecola