Four Carmel Catholic Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

Four Carmel Catholic High School students are among approximately 16,000 national semifinalists in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Seniors Isabella Pagano, Wrigley Kordt, Joseph Burke, and Victoria Nagode now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $30 million that will be offered next spring.

To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.

Scholarships are underwritten by the National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSC) with its own funds. Approximately 400 business organizations and higher education institutions share NMSC's goals of honoring the nation's scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

"We're so proud of Isabella, Wrigley, Joseph, and Victoria," said Principal Jason Huther. "They should all be very proud of their accomplishments. Here at Carmel, we are much more than just a high school. We are a community that works together each day to ensure that we achieve our goals."

Over 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing 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.

National Merit Scholarships

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2022. Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 220 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor's employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 180 colleges and universities are expected

to finance some 4,100 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.