Pencils strike paper around the country as many have their future on the line. The top 16,000 of the millions that take the PSAT become a National Merit Semi-Finalist, but behind each of these students lie a future scientist, an artist, an engineer, or a lawyer. One encapsulates themselves by a set of their unique achievements, but not through a single one.
National Merit Semi-Finalists often achieve great things in and out of school. Whether it is ranking high in tournaments or becoming the president of their favorite club, the crowning achievements of many of the brightest students at Revere High School (RHS) cannot be ignored.
This year at Revere, there were 10 National Merit Semi-Finalists: Samuel Albert, Camryn Bir, Anish Chandran, Anthony DeRubeis, Sarah Fondran, Eddie Liu, Saumya Mahajan, Charlie Messner, Saumya Sharma, and Neha Yadavalli.
RHS Principal Doug Faris was impressed with the number of semi-finalists at Revere.
”[Out of] 220 kids that took the test, you have 10, so you know, you’re almost at 5% of kids that took the test achieving that,” Faris said.
Faris discussed how the students who performed well on the PSAT performed well academically throughout their lives.
”They have a good background from elementary school [and] middle school and all the teachers have impacted them along the way there too,” Faris said.
Faris explained why being a semi-finalist is such a big achievement.
”Out of 1.5 million, you’re one of the 16,000 to be recognized as a semi-finalist, so that right off the bat, is a testament to your work ethic and your academic abilities,” Faris said.
Saumya Mahajan participates in a range of activities from National Honors Society to Students Demand Action, in which she is the president of both clubs.
Mahajan is not only recognized by standardized test scores, but also by her peers, who trust her with leading them.
”In both clubs, the president is elected by popular vote, but NHS is definitely a bigger group of my peers, so I was happy to know that they would trust me with an important position and that they had faith in me to lead that club,” Mahajan said.
Mahajan reaps many benefits because of her achievement.
”It’s nice to have the prospect of a scholarship and just the practice of going through that procedure, because I do intend to apply to other scholarships later on,” Mahajan said.
Another National Merit Semi-Finalist, Eddie Liu, has a financial incentive to perform well. His older siblings also serve as an example for him.
Liu also excels in math and has an interest in STEM based careers.
”I’m planning on STEM stuff right now, so it’d rather be, computer science, data science, or engineering,” Liu said.
National Merit Semi-Finalist Anish Chandran is the president of speech and debate and has loved and done his craft for many years.
”I’ve been doing speech and debate since 6th grade, so it’s been quite a long time,” Chandran said.
Chandran in his long career in speech and debate has accumulated many achievements in the field.
”My highest achievement is probably becoming a Harvard finalist and then three time qualifier for nationals and semi-finals at nationals,” Chandran said.
When people look at the unique achievements of Revere’s brightest students, they can see more than just a test score. Titles like being a National Merit Semi-Finalist are reflections on one’s academic prowess, but can not show who someone really is.
