-
Erin Fan is a National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalist
Officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the names of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth about $32 million that will be offered next spring. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors.
Erin Fan was selected from the Hauppauge High School (HHS) Class of 2018. Ms. Fan is currently in the process of sending out applications to a dozen colleges around the country. Erin is a member of the National Honor Society, the Art Honor Society and the Tri-M Honor Society at HHS.
Ms. Fan is also a member of a business-oriented club, the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA). DECA is a not-for-profit student organization with more than 215,000 members in all 50 United States. DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.
Last year Erin entered a DECA competition in the Accounting Applications category in which she placed in the top ten for all of New York State.
Erin plans on studying Math and Statistics in college.
About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and his or her high school must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist's academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test. From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists.
Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference. Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2018. Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis.
About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 230 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor's employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 190 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.
National Merit Scholarship winners of 2018 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 330,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title. (Reprinted from http://www.nationalmerit.org/)
A special note of congratulations to the Hauppauge High School students who earned commendations from the 2018 National Merit Program. The commended students are pictured to the right. From right to left are: Dr. Dennis O'Hara, Superintendent of Schools; Hamza Syed, Andrew Crecca, Justin Rutley, Jade Carvalho, Christine O'Connor, High School Principal; and Carolyn Probst, Assistant to the Superintendent for Educational Services and Student Outcomes.