Douglas students advance as National Merit finalists

Five Douglas High School students have become finalists in the National Merit Scholarship program.

Bonnie Slocum (early graduate), Justin Donat, Julia Miller, Brian Randall and Thomas Wicker, who were named semifinalists last fall, now have the opportunity to compete for some 8,200 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $36 million.

"This is the most that we have had since I've been here, and it's impressive to have five make it to both the semifinalist and finalist level," said Douglas High Principal Marty Swisher.

More than 1.5 million students in about 22,000 high schools entered the 2010 contest by taking the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. 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.

To become a finalist, a semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the high school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test. The semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, which includes the student's essay and information about the semifinalist's participation and leadership in school and community activities.

Three types of National Merit Scholarship awards will be offered this spring. Every finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 scholarships that will be awarded on a state representational basis.

About 1,000 corporate-sponsored scholarships will be provided by approximately 270 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 4,700 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.