Four students have qualified as National Merit Semifinalists this year, a significant academic achievement.

Bethany Bluel, Nick Hinman, Emmalee Reed, and Kyle Wetter, seniors, scored high enough on the PSAT their junior year to be among the 16,000 students so recognized from the approximately 1.6 million juniors who took the PSAT.

“I was really confident. I hold myself to a higher standard so I kind of expected it, but I was excited,” Wetter said.

Some of the requirements that need to be met to become a National Merit Finalist consist of the students maintaining a good academic record.

This entails staying in the B+ range or higher, and the student must write an essay based on a provided topic by the program.

According to Mary Glotzbah, counselor, the students also need to have recommendations and to complete an application.  The counselors submit all the materials to National Merit.

Also, Semifinalists who want to become Finalists must take the SAT by December 2016 and earn scores that “confirm [their] 2015 PSAT/NMSQT performance,” according to the National Merit website.

The National Merit program is one by which students can gain scholarship money, either corporate-sponsored or college-sponsored.

“There are a lot of full ride scholarships if they make Finalist—to specific schools. Some offer a discount,” Glotzbach said.

Being a Semifinalist also provides students access to scholarships, but they are not considered for as much money as are Finalists.

Additionally, some students are named Commended Students; these students typically score below the level required to be named a Semifinalist.

Many colleges also provide scholarships to Commended Students.

To possibly become a National Merit Semifinalist, or Finalist, Glotzbach recommends that students first enroll in rigorous courses.

Then students who are sophomores or juniors next year will need to take the PSAT in September, just as students took last Wednesday, Oct. 19.

All of this year’s Semifinalists stated that they took practice tests, and some had teachers help them prepare.

Bluel said, “I was really relieved to know that I made it as far as I did.”

The school offers a PSAT Workshop for prepare students, and Glotzbach said that there are also books students can buy to prepare for the PSAT.

The Semifinalists students are usually notified on a rolling basis from around March to the ending in June whether they are becoming Finalists. Being a Finalist is a great accomplishment and is one step closer to completing the National Merit.