National Merit Scholars Students 'Merit' High Praise !

Congratulations to the following Gateway High School students for outstanding performance in the National Merit Scholarship Competition:
Semi Finalists: Mohamed Koubaa, Martin Culig
Commended Students Luke Ament, Aaron Crittenden, Christina Douglas, Aaron Eisenberg, Katherine Kromka, Matthew Lambert, Matthew MacMurchy
Outstanding Participant Avionna Baldwin
Rensselaer Medal Award for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Brianne Garness

More than 1.5 million juniors in over 21,000 high schools entered the 2009 National Merit Program by taking the 2007 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, which represents 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, a Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the high school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test. The Semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, which includes the student’s self-descriptive essay and information about the Semifinalist’s participation and leadership in school and community activities.