McAuley Announces Finalist in the 2008 National Merit Scholarships

Catherine McAuley High School is proud to announce that Rebecca Weidler of Portland has been named a Finalist in the 2008 National Merit Scholarship Program. Approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 53rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program were announced in September by officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship® awards, worth $34 million, that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, Semifinalists must advance to the Finalist level of the competition by fulfilling several requirements. About 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will be selected as Merit Scholarship winners, earning the Merit Scholar® title. NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Program. Scholarships awarded through the program are underwritten by NMSC’s own funds and by approximately 500 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence. More than 1.4 million juniors in nearly 21,000 high schools entered the 2008 National Merit Program by taking the 2006 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. To become a Finalist, a Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the studentÂ’s earlier qualifying test performance.