LIHU‘E — Melanie Grindle, daughter of Jerri and Tom Grindle of Hanalei, is Kaua‘i’s only 2010 semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship program, according to a press release and her family. Melanie Grindle graduated from Kula High School as a
LIHU‘E — Melanie Grindle, daughter of Jerri and Tom Grindle of Hanalei, is Kaua‘i’s only 2010 semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship program, according to a press release and her family.
Melanie Grindle graduated from Kula High School as a junior with the final graduating class in 2009, just before the school near Kilauea closed.
She is currently a freshman at the University of Southern California, studying within the Resident Honors Program, according to an e-mail from her parents.
Because of her high PSAT and SAT test scores, she is among 16,000 semifinalists nationally in the 55th annual National Merit Scholarship program.
She will now compete to become a finalist for National Merit Scholarship status.
The program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies, according to a National Merit Scholarship Corporation press release.
The program does not measure the quality or effectiveness of education within a school, system or state.
The semifinalists are academically talented high school seniors (in most cases) and have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $36 million, that will be offered next spring.
To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition, according to the press release.
About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship program.
More than 1.5 million juniors in about 22,000 high schools entered the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants.
The nationwide pool of semifinalists, which represents less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
For more information, visit www.nationalmerit.org.
