National Merit Scholar Finalist is a title bestowed upon a few students nationally every year. While the finalists have not yet been announced, two semi finalists walk through these very halls.

All high school juniors take the PSAT, then the top 16,000 students (roughly those scoring in the top 0.5% of all PSAT scores) are declared National Merit Scholar Semi-Finalists. This year, two seniors, Sam Lonneman and Claire Franco, have been awarded with this title.

These students are now in the next stage of qualifications writing essays and submitting other supplemental information.

“The next step to being chosen as a finalist is to send in an application including an essay and a resume,” Lonneman said. “Then you send an ACT or SAT score to verify that your PSAT wasn’t a fluke.”

This recognition will help these students in their future, especially when it comes to college and scholarship packages that are granted at most universities for both finalists and semifinalists.

“Being a semifinalist opens a lot of doors, especially when it comes to scholarships. Different schools offer different scholarships for semi finalists and finalists. Being a semifinalist ties into my future as it will open opportunities for scholarships and help me to stand out to colleges,” Claire Franco said.

These students are now looking into colleges and seeing exactly what is granted with their new found award.

“I’m looking at the University of Michigan, which would offer a good scholarship for national merit finalists and the University of Texas at Dallas, and the University of Florida, which both offer a free ride to national merit finalists. In short, being a finalist opens the door to large automatic scholarships from many institutions and also improves your chances of being selected for programs like honors colleges and fellowships,” Lonneman said.

While Franco is interested in other schools as well as Lonneman, she has already received a scholarship offer from the University of Arkansas.

“Colleges I’m applying to are U of A, Hendrix, SMU, Duke, Vanderbiltt, Northeastern, and Washington & Lee. However, currently I have been awarded a Chancellor’s Scholarship to the University of Arkansas, so they are my first choice as of now,” Franco said.

Both students had enthusiastic reactions when they first discovered that they had met the criteria for the qualification for National Merit Semi-Finalist.

“I was and am hugely honored and humbled. This is such an incredible experience and honor. I am so grateful to all of my teachers and everyone that has supported me in my education,” Franco said.

Lonneman has a particularly unique experience because he is not the first member of his family to achieve this recognition.

“I was extremely excited because my sister was a national merit finalist and it has helped her college experience immensely,” Lonneman said. “Ïn addition, it made it feel like all of my hard work taking standardized tests was finally starting to pay off.”