Highlands Students Oliver Martin and Ben Gilkerson Qualify as National Merit Semi-Finalists

Mia Shrout and Merary Valdez

October 1, 2024

Oliver Martin and Ben Gilkerson as semi-finalists.

The National Merit is a scholarship that high school students take part in to compete academically for recognition in college. The 2026 National Merit Scholarship will start in Oct. 2024, and students will be awarded in 2026.

In the National Merit process, students must take the PSAT and meet other program entry requirements, which are compiled into one composite score. If the student reaches a certain score, they will be considered to move on to the semi-finals.

Highlands High School students Ben Gilkerson (12) and Oliver Martin (12), have been selected as semi-finalists for the scholarship.

These students took the PSAT when they were juniors, and they both reached the threshold of 213.

The students had to submit essays and answer a couple of personal questions to be considered for a finalist position.

Ben Gilkerson said, “You submit personal essays and a couple questions about your demographics into an application and once it gets mailed off your counselor submits a school record. We’ll see if we qualify as finalists.”

Seeing these students reach this amazing achievement is very exciting.

Oliver Martin said, “I felt excited when I found out I was a semi-finalist, it’s a high achievement and it looks good on college applications.”

There is still a long way to go before these two students are able to see their results. Results will be posted in Spring, and it is only then that they will get to know if they have qualified as a finalist for the scholarship.

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About the Contributors

Mia Shrout, Staff

Mia Shrout is a sophomore at Highlands High School taking publications this year. This is her second year taking Journalism at HHS and she is super excited to see what is to come. Her favorite thing to do in school is to write about things she has an opinion on. Mia dances at Rapture Dance Company. She works hard in the classroom and outside of it. Although she has a busy schedule, her determination allows her to manage her time wisely and still be able to do everything she wants to. Mia is excited to see where her time in publications takes her.

Merary Valdez, Yearbook Assistant

Merary Valdez is a sophomore at Highlands High School and a member of the Publications team. This is her second year in the program. Merary, this year, is also a yearbook assistant. She is looking forward to what this year has for her. She is willing to help in any way she can. One thing that inspires her to keep going is knowing that she can grow from the experiences she has gone through. Merary is excited to see where her time in publications takes her.