The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced Wednesday that Bryan High School senior Grace DuBose has been selected as a National Merit Semifinalist.
DuBose, Salutatorian of the Bryan High class of 2024, is involved in the International Baccalaureate program, National Honor Society, Girl Scouts, and the school’s theater program where she serves as an officer.
She is one of about 16,000 students in the country to be named a National Merit Semifinalist. She said she was hoping to earn the recognition and was “over the moon” to learn she had achieved her goal.
“It’s been really exciting,” DuBose said. She has been waiting on the announcement for a year, she said and then had to keep it a secret until it was made official on Wednesday, Sept. 13.
More than 1.3 million high school juniors in the country entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT (PSAT) or National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation states. The semifinalists represent less than 1% of all U.S. high school seniors, according to the organization.
“A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test,” the National Merit Scholarship Corporation explains.
As a semifinalist, DuBose will be eligible to earn scholarship money from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
There are expected to be about 15,000 students selected to move on to become National Merit finalists, which also comes with an opportunity to earn even more scholarship money from colleges and universities throughout the country.
In order to become a finalist, DuBose and other semifinalists will have to submit a detailed scholarship application with their scholarship record, school and community involvement, examples of their leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards they have received.
DuBose said school has always seemed easy for her. DuBose said she is in the process of applying to colleges and plans to study education and theater. Her goal after high school is to become a theater teacher.
“I didn’t want to act or do any of that,” she said about wanting to teach theater. “I just really liked being surrounded by it and helping teach it.”
Courtesy of Clay Falls
