From left: Lincoln Academy senior and National Merit Commended Student Ryan Twombly-Hussey, Director of Career and Academic Counseling Eliza Gleason, and LA senior and National Merit Semi-Finalist Isobel Petersen.
Two Lincoln Academy students have been honored by the College Board for their excellent scores on the PSAT. Senior Isobel Petersen has been selected as a National Merit Scholar semi-finalist, and senior Ryan Twombly-Hussey has been recognized as a commended student.
Commended students and Semi-Finalists receive the honor for scoring highly on the national exam. Out of 1.3 million high school juniors who took the PSAT in October of 2021, 50,000 students received the commendation, and of those, 16,000 were selected as semi-finalists. These students, including Petersen, are still competing to be selected for National Merit Scholarships.
Competition for the next level of the National Merit Scholarship is challenging. After being selected as Semi Finalists, students have the opportunity to continue in a national competition to become National Merit Finalists, and ultimately National Merit Scholars. The rigorous application process considers recommendations from teachers, student essays, and high school grades in the selection of 7,600 total National Merit Scholars, who will be awarded an aggregate $33 million in college scholarships this year.
“LA celebrates students for all sorts of different accomplishments, and this one is huge: the National Merit selection process recognizes high scores on a very challenging test,” said Eliza Gleason, Director of Career and Academic Counseling at LA. “We are so proud of Ryan and Izzy for their efforts and success.”
