Celebrating its 70th year anniversary, the National Merit Scholarship (NMS) is an annual academic competition that helps high school students gain recognition from colleges and receive financial aid. Aspiring participants must take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) or the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) the October of their junior year and score high enough to be qualified (the minimum qualifying score changes every year). According to the NMS Corporation’s website, around 3.5 million students take at least one of the exams, but only 1.3 million of those meet the requirements for the NMS. 

This year, 10 students from the West Linn-Wilsonville School District (WLWV) were named semi-finalists for NMS, an increase from last year’s five students. One of the semi-finalists this year is Kira Sato, senior, who learned about the scholarship through her parents. 

“Scholarships are very important for college, so I was like ‘yes, I’ll totally do that,’” Sato said. “When I was taking the [PSAT] last year, it was in the back of my mind. I wasn’t super focused on it—I just wanted to get a good score and prepare for the SAT.”

The average PSAT score is around 920, and 1210-1520 is considered a “good” score. Sato scored a 1520 on the PSAT, the highest score someone could achieve, and is currently exploring her career and college options. 

Earlier this year, the school sent a letter to everyone who qualified to be a semifinalist, informing them of the deadline to become a finalist and general information about the NMS. It also gave the students an account to access a website where they could fill out the application form for finals. They are required to submit an essay and a letter of recommendation, a task Teale Iacolucci, math teacher, is completing for Sato.

“It’s really stressful,” Sato said. “Honestly, the deadline I feel is pretty short. We got [the application] a month before the deadline, and I actually didn’t know I needed a letter of recommendation until a week [before the deadline]. And, it’s on top of college applications, so it’s a lot, but I am still really grateful. Ms. Iacolucci has been really supportive—she’s so sweet—and my dad is also supporting me a lot and reading over my essays.”

Last year, 28 Oregon seniors were finalists and won a scholarship for $2,500. 14 high schools around the state were represented in this achievement, such as Sunset, Westview, and Bend High School. Two students from West Linn, Lauren Gault and Annamika Konkola, class of 2025, received the award as well.

“I was really happy [when I found out] because everyone else who got it is so smart and cool,” Sato said. “It was nice to make it with them. I’m proud of all the West Linn students. The school definitely helped us too by giving us these opportunities.”

Another semi-finalist is Henry Hall-Brown, senior, who originally learned about the scholarship through his older brother, a finalist for his class. Last year, reminders to complete the PSAT for a chance to win were also given on the Live ROAR.

“It was a mixture of my brother and school that influenced me to apply,” Hall-Brown said. “I always feel like my family has encouraged me to work hard and be successful. So, I thought I could do well on it, but the school also made it very accessible, very easy to take the test.”

The application process to become a finalist is similar to a college application, and the essay prompt asks students to describe themselves or share their story. In total, over 16,000 students across the United States qualified as semi-finalists.

“It hasn’t been too bad writing it,” Hall-Brown said. “Actually, I got pretty lucky that one of my essays I’m using for a college application kind of overlaps pretty well, so I’m just going to reuse it and change some things to fit the prompt better. I was pretty excited that I didn’t have to do a lot of extra work.”

There are three types of scholarships students can win: a single payment of $2,500 will be awarded to 2,500 students, 830 corporate-sponsored merit scholarships will be awarded by approximately 150 companies based on employee relations or residency location, and college-sponsored merit scholarships are awarded by universities to students admitted to their institutions.

“I was very happy. I was very excited,” Hall-Brown said. “My mom’s been helping me revise a lot of my essays for college and for this because she was an English major in college, so she’s very good at writing and grammar. I’ve been asking her a lot of questions. I asked my brother a little bit, but it was a little different when he did it, but he’s been giving me some advice.”

Hall-Brown currently plans on becoming an orthodontist and is interested in attending Brigham Young University.

“It’s been super exciting doing it with all of these people I’ve had college classes with, and I think all of them deserve it so much,” Hall-Brown said. “They all did a very great job, so it’s super exciting that me and some of my close friends were able to have this opportunity together.”

Results for finalists will be announced in four news releases spanning from April to July. Since its founding, NMS Corporation (NMSC) has given over 490,000 scholarships worth over $1.9 billion.

“I think a lot of people stress about stuff like this, but I think it’s important to be grateful for where you’re at and be grateful for the opportunity that you have to go to such a competitive school,” Hall-Brown said.

For more information, visit NMSC’s website and visit the academic calendar for upcoming PSAT/NMSQT opportunities. 

“I wouldn’t stress about it because there are so many other scholarships,” Sato said. “But I think if you do get the opportunity to, I think it’s great, and some colleges give free rides through it, so I would definitely recommend that. But, in the end, scores don’t mean that much. They are not everything. It’s just one part of what somebody can do.”