FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE N.R. #54, 11/5/99

Date: November 5, 1999

Contact: Irene Cromer
(703)791-8720 or
Gail Hubbard, (703) 791-7400
Supervisor of Gifted Education

Eighteen Prince William County students, six who attend county schools and twelve who are enrolled at a regional magnet school, have been named semifinalists in the 2000 National Merit Scholarship Program administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

The county high school students are Kristin Black and Christopher Lessard, Hylton High School; Victoria Rose, Osbourn Park High School; Julie Porto, Potomac High School; Maren Spaldo, Stonewall Jackson High School; and Lauren Kage, Woodbridge High School. The following Prince William students who attend Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology were also named as Merit Scholarship semifinalists: Elizabeth Blair, Michael Crouch, Ryan Davis, Todd Defilippi, Matthew Graham, Caleb Harris, Alexandra Jamba, Susan Ji, William Kraig, Alan Rickard, Michael Sullivan, and Emily Woodward.

These students are among approximately 16,000 semifinalists announced by the NMSC. Nearly 1.2 million students in some 20,000 U.S. high schools entered the 1999 Merit Program as juniors by taking the 1997 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Using this qualifying test as an initial screen of program entrants, the highest scorers in each state were designated Semifinalists, in numbers representing less than one percent of the state's high school graduating class. The number of Semifinalists named in each state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating seniors. Students take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) in the fall of their junior year and results are announced in September of the following year.

Semifinalists must advance to the finalist level of the competition in order to be considered for Merit Scholarships. To qualify as a finalist, a semifinalist must fulfill additional requirements. The semifinalist and an official of the high school must complete a detailed scholarship application that provides information about the student's educational interests and goals, as well as participation and leadership in school and community activities. The student must have an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by the high school principal, and submit SAT scores that confirm his or her earlier PSAT/NMSQT performance. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to become finalists, and all Merit Scholars will be chosen from this group. Merit finalists will compete for approximately 7,600 scholarships worth more than $28 million to be awarded next spring.

Winners of Merit Scholarships will be selected on the basis of professional evaluations of finalists' abilities, accomplishments, and personal attributes considered important for success in rigorous college studies -- without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin or religious preference. Three types of Merit Scholarships will be awarded in 2000. Every finalist will be considered for one of 2,400 National Merit $2,000 Scholarships to be offered on a state representational basis. Some 400 corporations and business organizations will provide about 1,200 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who meet the sponsor' s preferential criteria. In addition, about 200 colleges and universities are expected to underwrite more than 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarships awards for Finalists who will attend the institutions financing their awards.

The approximately 15,000 Semifinalists named in each year's National Merit Scholarship Program show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. In this competition it is the individual student who is honored. The number of Semifinalists in a state or school cannot be used as a measure of the quality or effectiveness of any educational unit.

Students will be notified in April and May 2000 if they are selected to receive Merit Scholarships. These scholarship winners will be among 185,000 young people who have earned the title Merit Scholar.