Two seniors awarded top academic honor

By Jayne Durnin on April 27, 2010

Jayne Durnin/Staff Writer

Two senior students have been selected as finalists for the National Merit Scholarship.

Those students, Amelia McMurrin and Alex Judisch, found out about the program as juniors after taking the PSAT.

“I wasn’t really sure why I was taking the PSAT, just that it was recommended that I did. When I got my scores back, (guidance counselor Susan) Langan called me in and told me about the program and how it could possibly benefit me a lot,” McMurrin said.

Upon finding out that they were semi-finalists at the beginning of this year, McMurrin and Judisch started working on the rest of the requirements to become finalists and potentially win a scholarship.

“For me, becoming a finalist came down to doing well on the SAT and filling out an application with teacher recommendations and an essay on a given topic,” Judisch said.

“To become a finalist, I had to take the SAT’s and get above a certain score. I also had to fill out a form with information about my activities, leadership roles, sports and other personal information. I also wrote a short essay about overcoming obstacles in my life to get to where I’m at now,” McMurrin said.

In mid-Febuary the semifinalists were notified that they had become finalists and therefore qualifyed for the National Merit Scholarship.

“The scholarship will basically pay for your tuition, depending on what school you are applying for,” Langan said.

Each student will benefit greatly from being awarded this scholarship.

“The recognition for it helps get scholarships from organizations and schools, and the actual scholarship is going to seriously help me with college costs. It’s a huge blessing not to have to worry so much about where to get money for college,” McMurrin said.

“The scholarship is nice primarily because of the money I get to put towards college. Although, I was happy when I found out that at the University of Iowa they reward National Merit Scholars with priority housing and scheduling, which is an extra bonus,” Judisch said.