Four Newsome seniors, Cameron Hyatt, Elizabeth Kirby, Charles Sharp, and Grant Sieboldt, were recently nominated from a batch of over one million students as National Merit Scholar Semi-Finalists.

Usually when big tests come to mind, people think of the SAT or the ACT, for good reason; in a word they are the future of the test takers. Little to no attention is paid to the PSAT, it is seen as a mere aptitude test, a formality of no real merit. However, these four students are reaping the benefit of the test so often disregarded.

Senior Elizabeth Kirby, a prominent Newsome scholar, had no idea of the test’s potential for colleges; she assumed it to be just another test. Going into the PSAT she had only figured out the night before that it had this possible benefit.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is an organization devoted to recognizing scholastic excellence even before the important tests. Those chosen are put through a series of screens; in the end only about 16,000 test takers are nominated as semifinalists. Through further screening the number is further reduced to around 15,000.

Hyatt reports having not prepared for the PSAT, nor did the other three nominees, showing just how little was expected by the test takers. None of the nominees expected to be, well, nominated, though a few–namely Kirby– hoped for it quite fervently. Hyatt received commendable scores in the past and had a little more of an expectation as soon as his mother saw his scores and proclaimed that he would be nominated.

Local college USF has sent out letters to all of the nominees, apparently eager to augment its scholastic repertoire. These letters stated that all of the nominees could very well receive a full ride scholarship if they only obtained a few more scholarships.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation was founded in 1955 in order to screen 1.5 million high school students in preparation for the SAT and ACT. A pool of 50,000 students from each testing cycle is selected, and from that pool the winners of the scholarship are chosen. In a wider perspective, about 34,000 of the 50,000 are selected to be commended for their outstanding scores.