14 Hoover, Spain Park students named National Merit semifinalists
Fourteen seniors from the Hoover school system have been named National Merit semifinalists this year, including 11 from Hoover High and three from Spain Park High.
They are among 16,000 semifinalists named by the National Merit Scholarship Corp., meaning they are in the top 1% of high school students nationally and now will compete to become finalists and then National Merit Scholars.
This year’s semifinalists from Hoover High are Christopher Cheng, Kenneth Curlings, Shayaan Essani, Carys Gonzalez, Rotimi Kukoyi, Sreekiran Nataraj, Adnan Porbanderwala, Samuel Temple, Connor Varwig, Sarah Xin and Jeffrey Yuan.
The Spain Park National Merit semifinalists this year are Riley Luthin, Joseph Mudano and Michael Wolkow.
The semifinalists were chosen based on their performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which was given to the students during their sophomore or junior year.
The semifinalists represent the highest-scoring performers in each state, with the number of semifinalists from each state based on the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
The National Merit Scholarship Corp. in February will narrow the pool down to about 15,000 finalists and then to 7,500 students chosen as National Merit Scholars between April and July. The winners together will receive nearly $30 million in scholarships.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and a high school official must fill out a detailed application, sharing information about the student’s academic record, participating in school and community activities, demonstrating leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.
Finalists also must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm their earlier performance on the qualifying test.
“This group of students has blown us all away with what they do with their time and their energy, but also how they have achieved a level of greatness every day,” said Cindy Bond, the college and career counselor at Hoover High. “Those students shine academically, socially and in leadership each year.”
They come to school prepared to learn, but they’re also prepared to have fun, Bond said.
“That is so important to really be a model for other students within our community — that it’s not just about working hard all the time,” she said. “It’s also about teamwork. It’s also about growing yourself as a leader, and it’s also about being part of a community.”
Some of this year’s semi-finalists already have come together to provide PSAT coaching to juniors taking the test this year, Bond said.
“They want other students to have equal success, and that is a mark of a leader,” she said. “I think this group of students have really just given us so much to be proud of in every single way.”
The National Merit Scholarship Program is underwritten by about 400 business organizations and higher education institutions that share the goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.
Separate from the scholarship program, the nonprofit also recognizes students from various minority groups for significant achievement on the PSAT and/or Advanced Placement tests.
Three students from Hoover High (Nena Kimble, Rotimi Kukoyi and Kaylei White) and one from Spain Park High (Shelby Millender) were chosen for the National African American Recognition Program this year.