The National Merit Scholarship is a scholarship given to high school students who excel academically and score highly on the PSAT/NMSQT. After that, they become a semifinalist, and they can then write an application to become a potential finalist. In addition to the PSAT and application, applicants must do well on the SATs. A more detailed explanation of the selection process is depicted to the side.

In September of 2022, 18 ACP High School students were selected as semi-finalists for this prestigious scholarship. The chosen students were as follows: Alyssa Ackerman, Defne Aydin, Sophia Berg, Kevin Chor, Humza Choudhry, Abigail Goon, Jordan Hill, Raine Huang, Mason King, Alex Kroumov, Justin Lee, Giovanni Lopez, Stevie Ortiz, Caitlin Patarakun, Vahini Patel, Devangana Shah, Carter Smith, and Sunny Vakkalanka. In ACP’s recent spring sports assembly, Mr. Bickes called all of these students to stand in front of the student body to be honored at the assembly, and congratulated them for all being National Merit Scholarship Finalists! This was a wonderful surprise, seeing as this is the largest number of ACP students to move on to being finalists for the scholarships.

I got the opportunity to talk to Jordan Hill (grade 12), one of the finalists. When finding out about winning the scholarship, she felt very excited, especially because she knew her parents would be happy and proud of her. It was also a pleasant surprise because it will look great on college applications. She plans to go to UofA to major in engineering, specifically, electrical or mechanical. I also asked her about the advice she has for students who want to receive the National Merit Scholarship; she responded with “students should become familiar with PSAT-type questions through practice.” As she prepares to leave high school and transition to college, one of the biggest ideas that she is taking with her is the idea that teachers should not be feared. By this, she means that everyone should feel confident enough to ask their teacher(s) questions when necessary because a teacher’s job is to advise his or her students.

All of us here at ACP are so immensely proud of all of the National Merit Scholarship finalists for all of the wonderful things they have done and achieved throughout their high school years. Don’t forget to strive for the impossible and be extraordinary, Go Knights!