Every September, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announces the Semifinalists for the National Merit Scholarship Program — and every year, we have a reason to celebrate. This year we are proud to announce that 13 students have received National Merit recognition.

Of the 13 seniors recognized, two were named semifinalists which means they scored in the top 1% of their class nationally on the PSAT. Nine Pioneers were named commended scholars, indicating that they placed among the top 50,000 students who took the PSAT. Congratulations to semifinalists Andrew Parrish and Cavin Xue and commended scholars Finnerty Barger, Evangeline Campbell, Celia Chapman, Carter Fleming, Nana Kyei, Hongjin Mao, Peter McGinnes, Runxin Qian, Seo Yeon Shin, Jiahe Su and Hao Cheng Wang. 

As Semifinalists, Andrew and Cavin will have the opportunity to be considered for one of the 7,000+ National Merit Scholarships to be awarded next spring. A highly competitive program, the National Merit Scholarship has over 1.3 million eligible high school students in the running annually. Students enter into the competition when they take the Preliminary SAT, which typically happens during their junior year. After all the scores are accumulated, the Semifinalists are then selected proportionally to the state’s percentage of graduating seniors across the country. 

Notably, boarding schools are weighted on an even higher scale than the rest of Ohio, making Andrew and Cavin’s achievement all the more exceptional.

The next step for Andrew and Cavin is to submit a detailed application, which will take additional factors into account, such as strong academic records, leadership and additional involvement in other activities. Finalists will be notified in February and winners will be notified in the spring.

Congratulations, Pioneers! This achievement is a testament to your tremendous academic promise, and we are proud of you.