Polding Named National Merit Scholarship Winner

Congratulations to MKA senior Laura Polding who was among the 2,500 distinguished high school seniors named winners of National Merit Scholarships yesterday.

The Merit Scholar® designees were chosen from a talent pool of approximately 15,000 outstanding Finalists in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program.  National Merit Scholarship winners are the Finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. They were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors. These Scholars may use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university.

This year’s competition for National Merit Scholarships began in October 2008 when more than 1.5 million juniors in over 22,000 high schools took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than one percent of the state’s seniors, were named Semifinalists on a state representational
basis. Only the 16,000 Semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition. Approximately 15,000 Semifinalists met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. By the conclusion of the 2010 program, about 8,200 Finalists will earn the “Merit Scholar” title and receive a total of nearly $36 million in college scholarships.

Polding will attend Harvard University in the fall.