St. Joe’s National Merit Scholarship Qualifiers

The senior class of 2024 had four students commended for their academic success by The National Merit Scholarship Program: Hannah Webb, Issac Zhart, Brayden Griffin, and Juswin Judge. Grace Yuan was also commended as well as qualifying for the semi-finals.

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic scholarship competition in the US that recognizes students who received high scores on the PSAT. Commended students received a letter notifying them that they qualified as commended students who showed academic promise but did not move on to the semifinals. 

“The mission of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) is to recognize and honor the academically talented students of the United States.” 

Grace found out about this competition from the school and strived to get a high score on the PSAT. To qualify for the 2024 competition, students had to take the PSAT in 2022. 

“I did pretty well on the one sophomore year, the PSAT, so I thought if I did the same then I could get the scholarship,” Grace, 12, said. 

Students who qualified as semifinalists also received letters telling them they were the highest-scoring entrants in each state.

“It was pretty cool, my parents were proud of me so that was great and I thought it was nice to get a chance to get money for college,” Grace said. 

After Grace got the letter, she had to submit an essay and answer some questions. In 2024, semifinalists who meet all requirements will be notified that they have made it to the finals. Then from there, approximately 7,140 students will receive National Merit scholarships according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.