After scoring exceptionally high on the 2017 PSAT/NMSQT, a whopping 26 Charleston County School District seniors have been declared National Merit Scholarship semifinalists! This great honor sets them apart as the highest scoring seniors in the state of SC, and qualifies them to compete for over 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million.

In particular, Academic Magnet has an especially high number of scholars. This year, 20 students scored high enough on the PSAT to qualify, making AMHS the school with the most semifinalists in SC. The next step is applying to become a finalist, which includes submitting test scores, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, and much more.

Adriana Carter and Zach Wallace-Wright, both seniors at AMHS as well as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists, are both very excited to have received this honor, and appreciate how it will help with their upcoming college applications. “The possibility of scholarships will be nice” says Carter, who hopes to pursue neuroscience and English in college. Wallace-Wright said he felt “lucky to live in South Carolina because otherwise there’s no way I would’ve gotten this”.

The National Merit Scholarship excitement is not only limited to the semifinalists; this great honor is enthusiastically recognized by students throughout the school who are happy to see their peers excelling. “I’m so proud of my classmates that in a sense I am also a National Merit Scholar” Kate Kuisel cheerfully iterated as she praised her fellow students that had received the honor.

However, not all students share Kuisel’s excitement. “I don’t know why I didn’t receive this award, I don’t know what the qualifications are, but good job to them” Cannon Yarborough said bitterly as he attempted to congratulate Zach and Adriana.

If you see them in the hallways, make sure to congratulate the outstanding 20 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists of Academic Magnet! They gathered in the lecture hall for a celebration and were given left over popsicles from King of Pops to celebrate their exciting award.

Congrats to our 20 Raptor semifinalists:

Colin Baker

Razeen Basunia

Adriana Carter

Luke Freudenheim

Graysen Hasty

Anthony Joyce

Abigail Keating

Jared Lipton

Christopher Littlejohn

Devinder Narula

Dylan Odell

Steven Schlosser

Rachel Smith

James Staubes

Zachariah Wallace-Wright

Bohan Wang

Pauline Wang

Jonathan Ye

Yuna Zhao