By Staff
Staff reports
Two students from T.R. Miller High School have been chosen as semifinalists in the 51st annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced that David M. Mathieu and Clay J. Parker will join 16,000 students in Alabama and will have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 Merit scholarship awards, worth $33 million, that will be offered next spring.
Mathieu is the son of the Rev. John and Kathy Mathieu and Parker is the son of Dr. Terry and Susan Parker.
To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements and advance to the finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will be selected as Merit Scholarship winners, earning the Merit Scholar title.
To become a finalist, a semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout the high school years, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal and earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier qualifying test performance.
High school students enter the National Merit program by taking the PSAT/NMSQT - a test that serves as an initial screen of more than one million entrants each year.
Approximately 15,000 semifinalists will advance to the finalist level and it is from this group that all Merit Scholarship winners will be chosen. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin or religious preference.