National Merit Semifinalists in the 2022 National Merit® Scholarship Program
NATIONAL MERIT SEMIFINALISTS IN THE 2022 NATIONAL MERIT® SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
Congratulations to our 2 Semifinalists!
Herndon High School is very pleased to announce that the following students have been named Semifinalists in the 2022 National Merit® Scholarship Program:
- Nathan H.
- Jillian S.
Two hundred fourteen students from 16 high schools from across Fairfax County Public Schools have been named semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation for 2022.
The number of students honored this year during the pandemic is higher than last year when qualifying test scores were taken in 2019 before COVID-19 hit. The increase serves to indicate consistently high levels of academic achievement remain despite the challenges of the pandemic.
All semifinalists are eligible to compete for 7,500 National Merit Scholarship awards worth more than $30 million, to be awarded in spring 2022. Semifinalists advance to Finalist standing in the competition by meeting high academic standards and other requirements including a recommendation from their principal.
“I am proud of every student who earned the distinction of National Merit Semifinalist this year,” Dr. Scott Brabrand, Superintendent, said. “This year, we have two more semifinalists than we did last year when students took the PSAT before COVID. This strong result is proof that academic standards in FCPS remain high no matter what challenges the pandemic brings. Our students are truly exceptional. We now need to ensure that all our students have the opportunity to succeed at these high levels within our division.”
Approximately 16,000 high school seniors across the US were named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists for 2022. More than 1.5 million juniors entered the 2022 National Merit program by taking the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which serves as the 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. These determinations are made by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, not FCPS or individual schools.
Three types of Merit Scholarship awards will be offered in 2022: National Merit $2,500 scholarships, corporate-sponsored scholarships, and college-sponsored scholarships.
National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced in spring 2022.
A certificate will be presented to these two semifinalists at a celebration in November.
Congratulations Hornets!