Samo scholar: Meet the National Merit Semifinalists

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s yearly selection of 16,000 United States high school seniors has been announced, four of whom are current Samo students: Lincoln Jarvis ('23), Maya Knauf ('23), Kian Naini ('23), and Danny Chmaytelli ('23). Less than 1 percent of the nation’s high school students are represented in the pool of Semifinalists. Additionally, multiple Samo students have been announced as Commended Students, or students who were close to achieving the benchmark score to achieve National Merit Semifinalist status. These students include seniors Ryan Atienza, Jillian Brander, Alexa Duffy, Taj Ford, Natalia Galperin, Rosemary Haygood. Riya Khatod, Isaac Kim, Claire Kovac, Aiden Lee, Elleanor Quist, Theodore Rotgin, Julien Schweighofer, Theodore Tobel, Raeva Vasisht, and Mira Wali.

The National Merit Scholarship Program has been providing students with financial aid since 1955. The list was announced on Sept. 14. Over 15,000 of the 16,000 qualified Semifinalists are expected to move on to the finals, then half of those Finalists will win the scholarship. 

In order to qualify, students must have taken the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). A typical test includes reading, writing, language and two sections of Math: one with a calculator and one without. 2022’s minimum qualifying score was 220 in California and 207 nationwide. 

For students such as Chmaytelli, success on the test didn’t come without a great deal of consistency, both in practice and in testing conditions.

“If studying, be consistent, do like maybe 30 minutes a day instead of three hours the day before. Definitely, when you're practicing, mock the same environment — close your door, do the same timing, use the same pencil, do it on paper,” Chmaytelli said.

Similar to Chmaytelli, Jarvis’s studying habits came down to comfortability and familiarity. 

“Get yourself familiar with the timing of the test, that’s one of the hardest things about the SAT. Khan Academy in general is really good for studying,” Jarvis said.

About 7,250 students win the scholarship out of the pool of the original 16,000. Factors including academic record, school’s recommendation of said Finalist, a student essay, extracurriculars, and PSAT/NMSQT scores are taken into account for a qualifying spot among the Finalists. 

While many students view the PSAT as an end-all-be-all exam, Naini views it differently.

“It’s just kind of a test score, it doesn’t really say anything about who you are as a person or anything that will affect me other than that day, other than getting into college,” Naini said.

Despite getting high scores on the test, some students recognize that not everybody has access to the same resources. 

“I think it’s a good idea that colleges are starting to make it optional because I think that there are a lot of different underlying reasons as to why some kids do better than others. Like for me, I’ve had the opportunity to have tutoring and have my parents help me out,” Knauf said.

The four Samo Semifinalists of the National Merit Scholarship will be processed through the corporation and then move on to the finals. The 7,250 Finalists left will be notified of their prize in March and announced to the media on May 10.

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