Officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation have named Haddonfield Memorial High School senior Alexander Nuckols a semifinalist in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
More than 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2024 program contest by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
As a semifinalist, Nuckols becomes one of the 16,000 academically talented high-schoolers who represent less than 1% percent of U.S. seniors. He now has an opportunity to continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million.
To be considered for a merit scholarship, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level. of the competition and submit a detailed scholarship application with information about their academic records, school participation and community activities, leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school and be endorsed and recommended by a school official. They then write an essay and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirm earlier performances.
The corporation is a nonprofit that operates without government assistance and was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual scholarship program. Scholarships are underwritten by the organization with its own funds and by approximately 320 business organizations and higher-education institutions.
