– Saint Ursula Academy is proud to announce the students recognized in the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) competition for the 2019-2020 school year.
Semifinalists
Lily Valentino-Vilaboy of White Oak
Grace Yi of Anderson Twp.
Lily and Grace are among the 16,000 students of more than 1.5-million nationwide who entered the competition by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Qualifying Test last fall. The semifinalists represent less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors, and includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31-million that will be offered in the spring.
Commended Students
Lauren Crew of Anderson Twp.
Maya Goertemoeller of Monfort Heights
Samantha Woodke of Anderson Twp.
Lauren, Maya, and Samantha are among the 34,000 Commended Students across the nation who place in the top 50,000 scorers on the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Qualifying Test last fall.
“Those being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success,” said a spokesperson for NMSC.
The Saint Ursula National Merit students all have stories about the habits and skills that help them with their academic success and tests like the PSAT. They also credit some strategies they learned in high school.
“SUA helped me prepare for the PSAT by pushing me to think in new ways in my challenging honors and AP classes,” said Lauren Crew. “Learning in an environment like SUA's encouraged me to try my hardest, think critically, and problem solve in a way that helped me answer questions on the PSAT.”
Maya Goertemoeller shared why she felt prepared.
“What prepared me the more than anything was taking honors courses across literature, math, and science,” said Maya. “This taught me to think critically and problem solve quickly. While I didn't study for the PSAT specifically, I had started my ACT prep on prepscholar.com. This helped me tremendously on the ACT, and I think that this also probably influenced my test taking mentality when I went to the PSAT.”
“We are so proud of these students and are so happy to be partnering with them on their high school and academic journey,” said SUA Principal Dr. Mari Thomas. “We are happy to help them build a strong foundation and encourage them to continue their pursuit of academic and personal success in college and beyond.”