Snoqualmie Valley schools celebrate six National Merit Scholars

Six Mount Si High School seniors from the Class of 2013 were recently named National Merit Scholars, for earning top scores in the preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which an estimated 1.5 million students across the nation take the fall of their junior year. Seniors Maria Kajercline, Mari Patis, Nick Apone, Van Magnan, Natalie Guterson and Carly Nelson were recognized as National Merit Scholards, and will have their portrait displayed in Mount Si's "Wall of Fame."

November 9, 2012 5:51 pm
Pictured from left are: seniors Maria Kajercline
Pictured from left are: seniors Maria Kajercline

Six Mount Si High School seniors from the Class of 2013 were recently named National Merit Scholars, for earning top scores in the preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which an estimated 1.5 million students across the nation take the fall of their junior year.

Seniors Maria Kajercline, Mari Patis, Nick Apone, Van Magnan, Natalie Guterson and Carly Nelson were recognized as National Merit Scholards, and will have their portrait displayed in Mount Si’s “Wall of Fame.”

Further, Nicholas Apone is a 2013 National Merit Semifinalist, part of a national pool of 16,000 top-performing students, representing less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors. He will have the opportunity to continue in competition to become a finalist and compete for 8,300 scholarships worth a combined $32 million. Last year, three Mount Si semifinalists became finalists, Sally Miller and Brian Copeland, who now attend MIT, and Riley Edwards, who attends Fordham University in New York.

Fellow senior Natalie Guterson qualified for two distinctions based on her PSAT performance. She is a 2013 National Achievement Program Semifinalist and a National Merit Commended Scholar. Guterson is among 1,600 students across the nation recognized for scoring in the top 1 percent of more than 160,000 Black Americans who requested consideration in the National Achievement Program when they took the PSAT/NMSQT exam last October. As a semifinalist, Guterson also has the opportunity to continue in the competition to become a finalist and compete for National Achievement Scholarships.

National Merit and National Achievement scholarship winners are announced in the spring each year.

Commended Students are selected among the top 50,000 highest scoring students among the 1.5 million who took the PSAT exam last spring. This commendation recognizes students’ academic success and potential for continuing educational pursuits.

In October, all juniors at Mount Si High School, as well as sophomores and freshman, had the opportunity to take the PSAT/NMSQT® as a step to prepare them for the SAT and post-high school educational opportunities.

For more information regarding the College Board/PSAT & National Merit scholarships and recognition, please visit: http://www.collegeboard.com.