Athens Academy Students Recognized by National Merit

During the past decade, 17% of Athens Academy’s seniors have been recognized by the National Merit® Scholarship Program.  In addition, Athens Academy students have accounted for 32% of all National Merit Semi-finalists named in Oconee, Clarke, and the eight surrounding counties* since 2004.

Twelve members of Athens Academy’s Class of 2014 were recently recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program for their performance on the October 2012 PSAT/NMSQT.  Congratulations to Alois Cerbu, Claudia Evaristo, Darshan Parikh, Haley Ruhl, Max Ruston, and Edward Tie, who have been named Semi-finalists and will continue in competition this spring for Merit Scholarship awards.  In addition, Ian Dawkins, Christopher Marbut, Zander Mason, Anamaria Otalora-Garcia, Matilda Segal, and Nilu Vyas have been recognized as National Merit Commended Students.

Athens Academy is pleased to announce that in addition to being a Commended Student, Ian Dawkins has also been named a National Merit Achievement scholar. The National Achievement Scholarship Program is an academic competition established in 1964 to provide recognition for outstanding Black American high school students.  Of the more than 160,000 students who currently enter the National Achievement Program each year, over 4,700 are honored.

 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. 

*Barrow, Elbert, Greene, Jackson, Madison, Morgan, Oglethorpe, and Walton Counties.