MONROE, Conn. — Masuk High School Principal Steve Swensen recently announced his school has eight Commended Students and two National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, who earned recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program for their performances on the PSAT/NMSQT tests.
Of the 1.5 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest Selection Index scores qualify for recognition in the program, according to Swensen.
Masuk’s National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists, who have met the requirements to advance to Finalist standing in the competition are:
- Braeden Goyette
- Aryan Sharma
“I am pleased to announce that both Braeden and Aryan have been chosen as finalists — congratulations to you both,” Swensen said at the March 2 Board of Education meeting, when the students were honored by the school board, Superintendent Joseph Kobza and Assistant Superintendent Sheila Casinelli.
Semifinalists are chosen on a state-by-state basis to ensure equal representation across the country. Semifinalists are part of the top 16,000 scorers on the PSAT. To become a Semifinalist, a student must meet state-specific score cutoffs, which usually means scoring in the top one to two percent of PSAT takers in Connecticut.
Semifinalists can submit an application to become a finalist. Of those semifinalists who submit applications, about half will be chosen to receive a National Merit Scholarship in March. In addition to their PSAT scores, candidates for finalists are also evaluated on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments based on materials like their academic records, written recommendations, and essays, according to Swensen.
The school board also honored Masuk’s Commended Students that night. About two-thirds of the high scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT receive Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise.
Swensen said Commended Students make up approximately 5 percent of these scorers and, although Commended Students do not continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships, some of these students do become candidates for special scholarships sponsored by corporations and businesses.
Masuk’s Commended Students are:
- Matthew Cerrato
- John Nic Cone
- Elaine Grumet
- Derek Heffelfinger
- Aidan O’Driscoll
- Thomas Rodriguez
- Evie Vilaverde
- Jackson Zylick
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