Athens Academy Students Recognized by National Merit

This fall, 13 members of ’s Class of 2012 were recognized for their performance on the October 2010 PSAT/NMSQT, including five Semi-finalists. 

Jenna Dorfman, Tavish Gantz, Charlotte Hawkins, Robert Leverett, and Daniel West have been named Semi-finalists and will continue in competition this spring for Merit Scholarship awards. 

In addition, Nick Brown, Sara Beisswenger, Shida Chen, Joshua Kundert-Gibbs, Braden Lapp, William Morris, Torie Owers, and Will Seagraves have been recognized by National Merit as Commended Students. 

During the past decade, over 16% of Athens Academy’s seniors have been recognized by the National Merit® Scholarship Program, according to a news release.

The National Merit® Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®).  Of the 1.4 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores (critical reading + mathematics + writing skills scores) qualify for recognition in the National Merit® Scholarship Program, the news release stated.

Finalists will be notified in February, and in March through mid-June, winners will be notified, the organization's website stated.