The National Merit Scholarship Corp. [NMSC] has something in common with Disneyland in Anaheim, McDonald’s and Guinness World Records.
1955.
That’s the year each organization or franchise was formed.
“That is interesting to know that we have been around as long as these well-known entities,” a spokesperson from the National Merit organization said. “I guess it says that we are doing something right, that we have staying power.”
The formation of the organization dates back to the Cold War.
“NMSC was established in 1955 when the United States was greatly concerned about the Space Race, and public interest in recognizing intellectual achievement was lacking,” according to a statement titled, “70 Years of Recognizing Academic Excellence,” and posted on National Merit’s website. “In response, the National Merit Scholarship Program was created to identify and honor academically talented individuals and to encourage their pursuit of higher education.”
According to its website, National Merit gave 556 scholarships in its first year.
More than two decades later in 1980, the National Merit increased that amount to $2,000. And in another 20 years, the group received enough donations to increase the amount by another $500.
The $2,500 amount has remained the same since.
To be eligible to receive such an honor, students need to do the following:
- Receive a PSAT score that qualifies for a semi-finalist (the cut-off varies each year depending on the average score across the country)
- Apply to become a finalist by writing an essay
According to their website, to celebrate seven decades of service to the nation’s “brightest individuals,” National Merit hosted another reception in New York City where scholars shared their experiences and built meaningful relationships.
Although they won’t create something special for the 70th anniversary, National Merit’s executive director of public information, Eileen Artemakis, said they will celebrate their 75th anniversary by making new logos and seals.
NATIONAL MERIT’S IMPACT ON SUNNY HILLS STUDENTS
According to the National Merit records, the first time Sunny Hills students earned recognition as National Merit semi-finalists was in 1962. A total of two students received the honor that year.
The number of semi-finalists in Sunny Hills increased after 1962 and peaked in 1999, when 37 students were recognized. However, the numbers started showing a decreasing trend soon after.
“It’s great for our students to get that recognition for the things that they’ve been working on and the work that they’ve put in,” said principal Craig Weinreich, who was first hired as an English teacher here in the 1999-2000 school year — that’s when 31 students were semi-finalists. Four students were named semi-finalists this year.
“It’s incredible how we have such a rich history with National Merit, and I’m very honored to be a part of that lineup,” said senior Zayne Shah, who is one of the semi-finalists this year. “I hope our school continues this tradition and continues to have more semi-finalists in the following years.”
FALLOUT FROM DOUBLE TO SINGLE DIGITS
Those years of double digit semifinalists have yet to return as the campus has reached as high as 37 semi-finalists. This year, only four — seniors Kayden Kim, Celerina Lee, Matthew Ma and Shah — were named, down one from the previous school year.
“I was very surprised actually when I got my score back, and I’m grateful since I can use that for my college tuition,” Ma said. “I’m definitely honored to be a part of it, but I will say, most people probably don’t consider PSAT to be as important as SAT, and use it as an opportunity to practice, so if they advertised their scholarship program, it would definitely help.”
Lee said she believes improper advertisement is the reason behind the downward trend.
“I personally found out through my sister, but I know a lot of students who didn’t get a good score on the PSAT, and they didn’t know that they could get a scholarship, so maybe that’s why less students are trying hard,” she said. “And when I took the test it was more about using it as practice for SAT, and I kind of didn’t really care too much about the score; so I think those two might be the reasons.”
Weinreich offered a different reason for the decline.
“The test is becoming obsolete,” the principal said. “A lot of people got away from thinking they needed a perfect score and actually taking the test for the score. … Ten years ago, the class of 2018 were doing PSAT like crazy every Saturday because it would be helpful to pay off parts of the college tuition after receiving the full scholarship.”
However, the NMSC responded that it is up to each individual school whether to administer the PSAT/NMSQT to their students.
“We, of course, encourage students to take the test since it is the entry vehicle to the National Merit Scholarship Program, an academic competition through which high achieving students can be recognized and qualify for college scholarships,” said The National Merit. “Students can learn more about the program in the PSAT/NMSQT Student guide, which is posted on our website,”
CELEBRATING 70 YEARS
While Sunny Hills’ four National Merit semifinalists were named during a morning announcement from Weinreich earlier this year, school officials had no other plans to recognize the program’s 70 decades of offering college financial support for the nation’s brightest PSAT takers.
However, National Merit said they will be celebrating the students’ accomplishments.
“We are sharing this information with our corporate college sponsors and Scholars and will have a blog post on our [National Merit] News site,” Artemakis said. “We may have a small internal celebration as well.”
Although the program will only hold a small celebration this year, the executive director said they are planning to create either new designs or recognitions for their 75th anniversary.
