Conner Davis Named National Merit Semi-finalist
Conner Davis, a talented Huntington High School senior, has been named a semi-finalist in the 56th annual National Merit scholarship program. The designation places the teenager among an elite group of American high school students.
"Conner is a very serious student and one that makes learning a priority," said Dr. Carmela Leonardi, principal of Huntington High School. "He can be quite independent in his work as he can be quite focused on meeting the expectations of his teachers."
Mr. Davis is well-liked by his classmates and highly regarded by Huntington faculty members. He has been engaged in advanced studies throughout high school and taken a challenging set of courses.
"This is one student who knows what he wants out of his high school experience and is not shy about setting priorities or making the kinds of choices that are going to increase his knowledge base or improve his chances for a future career," Dr. Leonardi said.
This year's National Merit competition drew more than 1.5 million teenagers from 22,000 high schools. The students "entered the 2011 National Merit program by taking the 2009 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants," according to the National Merit website. "The nationwide pool of semi-finalists, which represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state."
The National Merit Scholarship program, which dates to 1955, provides recognition and scholarships for top students. About 16,000 seniors advance to the semi-final round of the competition and another 34,000 students receive letters of commendation.
In addition to high scores on the PSAT/NMSQT, competitors must also meet various stringent participation requirements. They are eventually assigned a "selection index" that is based on their critical reading, math and writing skills scores.
About 90 percent of all semi-finalists will be named finalists and 8,400 of them will win a National Merit scholarship. There is more than $36 million available for this year's program. Some "commended" students are also later considered for special scholarships sponsored by corporations. The program is supported financially by 450 businesses and colleges.