Seven senior students from Revere High School have earned the status of National Merit Semifinalists early this 2017-2018 school year.

The seven students include Sydney Borcherding, Shreya Datta, Jason Fan, Paige Fritz, Peter Koutrodimos, Sophie Paxton and Alexa Shin. Students become semifinalists if they obtain a certain score on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) adds each of a student’s math, reading, and writing section scores, which can fall between 8 and 38, and then multiply that sum by 2. Ohio’s cutoff selection index score this year was 219. There are about 16,000 semifinalists in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These students have the opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring.

Paxton shared what she felt helped her achieve a qualifying score.

“I have taken standardized tests in the past, so I know about moving quickly through problems so that I do not run out of time. My math and English classes helped prepare me for the curriculum on the test,” Paxton said.

Fritz commented on how she feels about becoming a National Merit Semifinalist.

“The guidance counselors called us all into the office at the same time, and we looked around thinking, ‘Is this for what we think it is for?’ It was exciting when we all found out that we were selected,” Fritz said.

Koutrodimos mentioned what he thought helped him achieve a qualifying score.

“The assignment of On Writing Well by William Zinsser for AP English summer reading with Mr. Silvidi [helped me achieve a qualifying score],” Koutrodimos said.

To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalists level of the competition. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to become finalists, and about half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.

Paxton commented on how she feels about becoming a semifinalist and possibly a finalist.

“I am super excited. If I become a finalist, it will open up a lot more opportunities for me. It will definitely help with acceptance to college as well as the scholarship money that I could receive. I also loved seeing my name in the Akron Beacon Journal,” Paxton said.

RHS Principal Phil King shared how he feels about the district’s seven National Merit Semifinalists.

“There are a lot of high achievers in our building and we are proud of them working so hard and putting themselves in a situation where they can receive such recognition,” King said.

In February, the NMSC will notify the 16,000 semifinalists if the students have advanced to the finalist standing.